Bible  Study 

in  the 

Work  of  Life 


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Bible  Study  in  the  Work  of  Life 


Books  by  the  Same  Author 


World  Wide  Bible  Study 
The  Bible  and  Modem  Life 
Why  Go  To  College. 
College  Men  and  the  Bible 
The  Man  of  Egypt 


Bible  Study  in  the 
Work  of  Life 


By 

Clayton  Sedgwick  Cooper,  A.M, 


( 


Book  I. 


Ubc  Iknlcftetbocfter  press 

New  York  City 
1914 


Copyright  bt 

CLAYTON   SEDGWICK   COOPER 

1914 


••i^*i: 


Ubc  ftnichcrboclier  preM,  tUw  Vork 


The  first  and  almost  the  only  book  deserving  of  universal  atten- 
tion is  the  Bible.  The  Bible  is  the  book  of  all  others  to  be  read  at 
all  ages  and  in  all  conditions  of  human  life  ;  not  to  be  read  once  or 
twice  through  and  then  laid  aside,  but  to  be  read  in  small  portions  of 
one  or  two  chapters  every  day,  and  never  to  be  intermitted  except 
by  some  overruling  necessity.  I  speak  as  a  man  of  the  world  to  men 
of  the  world,  and  I  say  to  you,  "  Search  the  Scriptures.'*  I  have  for 
many  years  made  it  a  practice  to  read  through  the  Bible  once  a 
year.  .  .  .  It  is  an  invaluable  and  inexhaustible  mine  of  know- 
ledge and  virtue. 

John  Quincy  Adams. 


363016 


PREFATORY   NOTE 

"  I  would  study  the  Bible  if  I  only  knew  how  to 
begin ! "  This  remark  is  commonly  heard  among  people 
regardless  of  class,  race,  nationality,  or  shade  of  intel- 
lectual or  religious  belief. 

This  book  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  four  books  in  which 
the  author,  with  the  assistance  of  invaluable  councilors, 
aims  to  provide  a  suggestive  plan  of  Bible  study  for  each 
week  of  the  year  and  for  every  day  in  the  week,  covering 
thereby  the  main  truths  of  the  Christian  Scriptures,  as 
these  truths  are  related  to  the  work  of  life. 

These  studies  are  arranged  for  both  personal  and  class 
use,  the  question  material  and  references  at  the  end  of 
each  study  being  designed  for  discussion  in  groups,  and 
also  for  starting  the  individual's  thought  toward  a  plan 
of  Bible  study  of  his  own. 

The  author  is  indebted  to  a  wide  circle  of  scholars, 
public  men,  and  religious  leaders,  representing  many 
sections  and  several  different  nations,  for  criticism  of 
subject  matter  and  for  hints  regarding  the  point  of  view 
and  needs  of  present-day  men  and  women.  We  present 
this  first  book  in  the  series,  cherishing  the  hope  that 
those  who  find  these  studies  helpful  will  cooperate  with 
us  in  extending  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  for  in  the 
words  of  Archbishop  Temple, 

"  We  can  hardly  do  anything,  I  doubt  if  we  can  do 
anything  for  people  to  be  compared  with  helping  them 
to  understand  the  Bible." 

New  York  City, 

March  j,  igi4. 


vu 


CONTENTS 


Introduction  ... 

CHAPTER 

I.    Why  Study  the  Bible  ? 
II.    What  Is  Christianity? 


III.    Choosing  and  Conducting  a  Life- Work      35 


IV.  The  Place  and  Use  of  Money    . 

V.  Education  in  Religion 

VI.  Is  Prayer  Essential  for  Success  ? 

VII.  God's  Laws  for  Happiness  . 

VIII.  The  Art  of  Being  Quiet     . 

IX.  God's  Laws  for  Health 

X.  What  Makes  a  Friend  ? 

XI.  The  Man  Who  Works 

XII.  Do  We  Really  Believe  God  ?     . 


PAGB 

iii 

3 
19 


47 
61 

75 
87 

lOI 

"5 
129 

143 
157 


IX 


INTRODUCTION 

The  object  of  these  studies  is  to  assist  the  modem  man 
to  discover  the  Bible  and  to  apply  its  teachings  to  his 
e very-day  life. 

Modem  scholarship  has  accomplished  much  in  the  way 
of  breaking  the  Bible  out  of  the  polarized,  theological, 
and  dogmatic  forai  in  which  controversial  and  sectarian 
strife  confined  it.  Yet  for  the  average  man  these  books 
of  erudite,  historical  scholars,  with  their  endless,  scientific 
facts  and  comparison  of  sources  and  dates,  are  almost  as 
impregnable  as  the  more  ancient  treatises  of  theology. 

There  still  remains  the  need  for  a  kind  of  study  of 
the  Bible  that  will  approach  this  literature  that  Goethe 
called  the  "Great  Book  of  the  Nations,"  with  simple 
directness  relative  to  the  ordinary  problems  of  every-day 
life,  the  problems  that  must  be  solved  practically  by  the 
twentieth-century  man  whether  he  is  running  a  system 
of  shops  or  tenement  houses,  a  cotton  mill  or  a  farm,  a 
hospital  or  a  bank. 

An  incident  which  came  to  my  notice  while  in  China 
illustrates  the  point  of  view  of  these  studies.  A  culti- 
vated Chinese  gentleman,  a  Confucianist,  was  given  a 
New  Testament  by  an  old  American  missionary,  who 
asked  the  man  to  read  it  and  consider  the  question  of 
becoming  a  Christian.  The  Chinese,  who  was  both  in- 
telligent and  sincere,  read  the  Gospels  for  the  first  time, 
and  after  a  month  or  two  of  thought  upon  the  subject, 
returned  to  the  missionary,  whom  he  had  known  inti- 
mately for  many  years,  and  said: 


xii  fntroOuctton 


"  I  have  read  this  Book  with  great  interest — it  is  a 
great  Book,  and  I  am  inclined  to  try  these  teachings; 
but,"  he  added,  "  according  to  this  Book  you  are  not  a 
Christian!*' 

The  old  missionary  was  somewhat  startled  at  this 
sweeping  assertion  and  replied,  "  What  do  you  mean?" 

The  Conf ucianist  explained  his  statement  as  follows : 

"These  writings  appear  to  me  to  state  clearly  the 
characteristics  of  a  Christian. 

"First,  I  read  that  a  Christian  is  a  man  who  is  not 
handicapped  by  anxiety  and  worry,  and  is  usually  a 
happy  man.  He  is  one  who  knows  that  his  God,  who 
cares  for  the  falling  of  the  smallest  bird,  will  surely  care 
for  him.  This  Book  commands  him  to  cast  his  care 
upon  God,  and  it  assures  him  that  he  will  receive  the 
gift  of  Peace.  I  read  that  Jesus  said  to  His  disciples 
that  He  gave  them  His  joy,  and  He  furthermore  said, 
'  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled.'  I  find  that  a 
Christian  is  an  unworried  man. 

"But,"  said  the  Chinese  to  his  missionary  friend, 
"  you  are  the  most  worried  man  I  know.  You  impress 
me  as  having  a  thousand  cares.  Indeed  you  are  anxious 
about  details  concerning  which,  as  these  Gospels  teach, 
you  should  trust  God.  You  are  not  an  unworried  man. 
You  are  not  a  Christian. 

"Furthermore,"  the  man  of  China  insisted,  "I  read 
in  the  New  Testament  that  God  is  Love ;  that,  according 
to' Jesus,  there  are  simply  two  great  commandments  that 
sum  up  Christianity,  namely:  Love  to  God,  and  love  to 
one's  neighbor.  I  read  that  a  Christian  man  is  a  great 
man  of  love,  one  whose  heart  is  too  full  of  kindness  and 
generous  feeling  to  allow  of  any  hatred,  one  who  even 
loves  his  enemies. 

"But — you  do  not  impress  me  as  being  such  a  man. 
Only  the  other  day  you  were  telling  me  of  a  certain 


1Fntro^uctton  xiii 


person  who  had  injured  you  and  to  whom  you  would 
not  speak,  when  you  met  him  upon  the  street.  You 
do  not  love  your  enemies.     You  are  not  a  Christian. 

"There  is  still  another  thing,"  continued  the  Confu- 
cianist,  "  that  impressed  me  in  this  Book.  We  go  to 
our  Temples  to  ask  our  gods  for  help  in  relation  to  our 
daily  needs,  such  as  the  health  of  our  children,  prosper- 
ity in  our  business,  and  success  in  our  special  under- 
takings. We  want  a  God  who  can  assist  us  in  making 
money  to  provide  for  our  families,  one  who  can  bring 
happiness,  health,  and  good  cheer  to  those  beneath  our 
roof  trees.  I  was  glad  to  find  in  this  Book  that  your 
God  promises  to  take  care  of  the  material  needs  of  his 
followers.  I  read  that  if  a  man  seeks  first  the  Kingdom 
of  God  he  has  a  right  to  expect  other  things,  like  pros- 
perity in  his  business,  to  follow;  that  God  helps  him  to 
get  on  and  be  successful. 

"  But  you  never  told  me  about  this.  I  never  heard 
any  one  say  that  Christianity  helps  a  man  in  his  busi- 
ness. You  have  only  told  me  about  certain  spiritual 
gifts  and  future  rewards.  We  Chinese  want  not  simply 
spiritual  blessings,  but  we  want  the  help  of  the  gods  in 
our  everyday  life.  The  great  problem  of  our  country 
is  that  of  getting  rice  to  fill  the  hungry  mouths  of  our 
children.  Sunrise  sees  the  carpenter  and  the  smith,  the 
shoemaker,  and  the  beater  of  cotton  at  their  labor,  and  the 
midnight  cry  of  the  watchman  often  finds  them  patiently 
earning  the  food  for  the  morrow's  meal.  You  must 
bring  to  these  people  the  kind  of  Christianity  I  read 
about  in  this  Book,  the  Christianity  that  meets  the 
pressing  needs  of  everyday  life.  If  I  understand  the 
meaning  of  your  Book,  you  are  not  a  Christian." 

The  missionary  who  related  to  me  this  incident,  con- 
fessed that  the  practical  interpretation  of  the  message 
of  the  New  Testament  to  daily  life,  by  a  man  who  had 


xiv  Introbuctton 


read  the  Gospels  for  the  first  time,  not  only  gave  him  a 
decided  surprise,  but  it  also  afforded  him  a  new  point 
of  view. 

But  it  is  from  such  practical  point  of  view  that  the 
Bible  must  be  tested  and  related  to  the  needs  of  the 
modem  man.  It  has  a  message  for  the  man  who  is 
choosing  a  life  work,  for  the  man  who  is  unhappy,  for 
the  man  who  is  troubled  about  money,  for  the  hurried, 
tired  business  man,  who  thinks  he  has  no  time  to  rest 
nor  to  relax ;  it  comes  with  most  definite  advice  to  the 
man  who  is  friendless,  or  who  would  know  how  to  make 
or  hold  true  friends;  to  the  man  who  is  sick,  or  hard 
pressed  by  misfortune ;  it  teaches  the  laws  of  prayer  and 
faith  and  education  and  labor,  not  in  the  abstract,  but 
in  the  concrete,  making  these  great  forces  mean  some- 
thing rich  and  wonderful  for  each  individual,  regardless 
of  that  individual's  work  or  station.  The  Bible  tells  of 
a  religion  that  really  can  be  made  to  work  every  day 
in  the  week  and  every  hour  in  the  day.  It  tells  of  the 
more  abundant  life  in  relation  to  every  department  of 
existence,  which  really  means  more  health,  more  happi- 
ness, more  prosperity  for  the  individual. 

It  has  been  the  aim  of  these  studies  to  deal  with  the 
message  of  the  Bible  in  its  relation  to  these  ordinary 
problems  of  present-day  living,  without  the  use  of  theo- 
logical terms  and  also  without  involving  the  student  in 
those  controversial  matters  which  inevitably  distract  the 
thought  of  the  busy  man  from  the  essential  question, 
which  is,  "What  particular  message  has  the  Bible  for 
me?'* 

The  studies  give  especial  emphasis  and  prominence  to 
the  teaching  of  Christ  as  found  in  the  New  Testamentt 
since  those  persons  who  have  really  caught  the  spirit  of 
this  teaching  have  found  a  solution  of  modem  pro- 
blems, both  public  and  personal,  which  no  merely  legis- 


Introduction  xv 


lative  action  or  ethical  rules  have  been  able  to 
supply. 

Shortly  before  the  death  of  the  late  Senator  J.  P. 
Dolliver,  I  asked  him  what  he  considered  to  be  the 
greatest  present  need  of  American  life.  He  replied,  "The 
greatest  need  of  our  people  is  a  new  dynamic  which  will 
touch  the  inner  springs  of  religious  activity;  it  is  not 
merely  ethical  or  political  reformation  which  we  need, 
but  a  revival  of  religion,  and  this  revival  will  find  its 
springs  in  the  Gospel  of  Jesus.  *' 

The  chief  reason  that  this  Gospel,  this  spirit  and 
method  of  Jesus,  takes  hold  of  the  human  heart  and 
life  with  power,  is  because  it  gets  down  below  mere 
formal  rules  of  state  or  creed  to  the  ideals  and  the 
desires  of  metij  where  all  sweeping  and  vital  change 
must  begin.  The  reason  that  the  ten  commandments 
and  every  similar  code  of  ethics  are  not  enough  is  because 
these  are  merely  negative  prohibitions  that  do  not  create 
in  the  human  mind  and  heart  a  new  disposition,  a  new 
temper,  a  new  desire.  It  is  one  thing  to  build  prisons 
that  will  make  it  impoSwSible  for  a  man  to  steal.  It  is 
another  thing  to  instill  in  his  deepest  character  the 
desire  not  to  steal,  and  until  we  can  get  such  a  new  dis- 
position, all  the  legislative  high  fences  in  Christendom 
will  be  papier-mdche  to  stop  dishonesty. 

The  average  man  does  the  thing  he  wants  to  do,  all 
professions  and  beliefs  to  the  contrary.  Unless  he  really 
wants  to  exhibit  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity  as  taught 
in  the  Gospels,  he  will  not  exhibit  it — this  is  a  fundamen- 
tal truth.  To  change  the  intention  and  the  longing  of 
the  heart  of  the  modem  man  is  the  only  permanent 
salvation — the  only  way  to  bring  to  this  world  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  One  direct  road  to  this  condition  is 
by  the  way  of  Bible  study — by  applying  God's  laws  to 
every-day  life. 


xvi  fntroDttctton 


A  FEW  SUGGESTIONS  REGARDING  THE  USE  OF  THESE 
STUDIES 

First. — Approach  the  study  of  the  Bible  with  utter 
honesty  and  with  a  desire  to  get  its  particular  message 
for  you.  Leave  your  criticism  and  your  prejudices  at 
the  door,  if  you  wish  to  enter  with  profit  into  the  House 
of  the  Spirit.  The  great  problems  of  the  soul  can  never 
be  settled  by  disputations  and  acrid  discussions.  God*s 
messages  appeal  only  to  an  open  heart,  sincerely  seeking 
its  own  light. 

Second. — Study  the  Bible  systematically.  Give  it 
the  kind  of  attention  and  regularity  that  you  would  give 
to  any  other  subject  from  which  you  expect  to  receive 
advantage.  Fifteen  minutes,  preferably  in  the  morning, 
before  the  day's  business  begins,  spent  in  the  environment 
of  Bible  study  in  relation  to  a  single  problem  of  life  work 
will  solve  the  majority  of  the  needs  of  the  day  by  giving 
the  person  a  new  grip  on  his  will  and  a  quiet  mind  secured 
by  a  right  perspective.  A  habit  well  grounded  of  daily 
Bible  study  in  the  right  spirit  is  the  most  important  asset 
which  can  possibly  be  achieved  by  a  human  being. 

Third. — Come  to  these  Bible  studies  thoughtfully  and 
with  practical  common  sense.  I  once  heard  Canon 
Wilberforce  say,  speaking  in  St.  John's  Chapel,  West- 
minster, "The  only  way  to  discover  God  is  by  thought." 
No  thought  is  of  great  value  which  is  not  balanced  by 
good  sense  and  by  the  best  reason  and  judgment  that  the 
human  mind  can  afford.  The  Bible  is  filled  with  many 
plain  statements  which  are  too  frequently  wrenched  from 
their  settings  to  be  converted  into  mystic  and  vague 
symbolism.  We  are  also  inclined  to  bring  to  the  Bible 
preconceived  notions  which  make  it  difficult  to  think 
clearly  regarding  the  matters  of  vital  moment  to  us. 

Try  to  read  the  New  Testament  as  though  you  were 


IntroOuctton  xvu 


reading  it  for  the  first  time.  Ask,  "What  do  the  words 
actually  say?"  not  "What  have  I  always  supposed  they 
said?"  It  is  not  necessary  for  one  to  expect  that  he  can 
understand  the  Bible  in  its  totality,  certainly  not  at  the 
start,  since  one  must  grow  slowly  in  spiritual  comprehen- 
sion as  well  as  in  intelligent  acquaintance  with  the  Book. 
Let  us  not  say,  therefore,  that  we  understand  a  passage, 
if  we  do  not.  Let  us  not  change  a  simple  rule  for  daily 
conduct  into  an  intolerable  and  mysterious  dogma.  Let 
us  try  to  accept  the  words  of  Jesus  as  simply  as  he  spoke 
them. 

Fourth. — Remember  that  the  Bible  belongs  to  you! 

Take  the  Bible  for  the  impelling  force  that  drives  you 
out  to  some  useful  service.  Take  it  for  your  cares,  your 
worries,  your  sorrows.  Believe  it  and  apply  it.  It  has 
been  the  panacea  for  a  world's  grief.  You  will  find  in  it 
what  the  Psalmist  found,  "  a  refuge  in  the  time  of  storm. " 
Believe  unflinchingly  that  God  is  a  God  of  love,  that 
He  means  good,  not  evil  for  you,  that  He  has  a  particular 
will  for  your  own  individual  happiness. 

"In  His  will  is  our  Peace." 

Remember  that  God  makes  no  divStinction  in  His  all- 
embracing  care.  As  the  mountains  are  round  about 
Jerusalem  so  the  love  of  the  Father  is  roimd  about  His 
own. 

*'Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  Peace, 
Whose  mind  is  stayed  on  Thee." 


Why  Study  the  Bible? 


Bible  Study  in  the  Work  of 
Life 


WHY  STUDY  THE  BIBLE? 

This  book  of  the  Law  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy 
mouth,  but  thou  shalt  meditate  thereon,  day  and  night, 
that  thou  mayest  observe  to  do  according  to  all  that  is 
written  therein;  for  then  thou  shalt  make  thy  way 
prosperous  and  then  thou  shalt  have  good  success. 

Joshua  i  :  8. 

Ye  search  the  Scriptures,  because  ye  think  that  in 
them  ye  have  eternal  life;  and  these  are  they  which  bear 
witness  of  me.  John  5 :  39.  ,y 

Great  peace  have  they  that  love  thy  law. 

Psalms  119: 165. 

He  that  hath  my  commandments  and  keepeth  them 
he  it  is  that  loveth  me.  John  14:  21. 

But  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Ye  do  err, 
not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power  of  God. 

Matthew  22 :  29. 
3 


J— r-^y 

JBiblc  Stut)^ 


Thy  word  have  I  laid  up  in  my  heart 
That  I  might  not  sin  against  thee. 

Psalms  119:  ii. 

Every  Scripture  inspired  of  God  is  also  profitable  for 
teaching,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction 
which  is  in  righteousness;  that  the  man  of  God  may  be 
complete,  furnished  completely  unto  every  good  work. 

II  Timothy  3:16-17. 

Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet 

And  light  imto  my  path.  Psalms  119:  105. 

For  whatsoever  things  were  written  aforetime  were 
written  for  our  learning,  that  through  patience  and 
through  comfort  of  the  Scriptures  we  might  have  hope. 

Romans  15:4. 

The  law  of  Jehovah  is  perfect,  restoring  the  soul; 
The  testimony  of  Jehovah  is  sure,  making  wise  the 
simple.  Psalms  19:  7. 

But  these  are  written,  that  ye  may  believe  that  Jesus 
is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God;  and  that  believing  ye  may 
have  life  in  his  name.  John  20:  31. 

The  words  that  I  have  spoken  unto  you  are  spirit  and 
are  life.  John  6:63. 

Give  diligence  to  present  thyself  approved  unto  God, 
a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed,  handling 
aright  the  word  of  Truth.  II  Timothy  2:  15. 

Already  ye  are  clean  because  of  the  word  which  I  have 
spoken  unto  you.  ...  If  ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words 
abide  in  you,  ask  whatsoever  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done 
imto  you.  John  15:  3,  7. 


irn  tbe  Morft  ot  %itc 


Everyone  therefore  that  heareth  these  words  of  mine 
and  doeth  them,  shall  be  likened  unto  a  wise  man,  who 
built  his  house  upon  the  rock;  and  the  rain  descended,  and 
the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew  and  beat  upon  that 
house ;  and  it  fell  not ;  for  it  was  founded  upon  the  rock. 

Matthew  7 :  24. 


WITNESS  OF  MEN 

The  existence  of  the  Bible  as  a  book  for  the  people  is 
the  greatest  benefit  which  the  human  race  has  ever  ex- 
perienced. Every  attempt  to  belittle  it  ...  is  a  crime 
against  humanity.  And  if  there  are  to  be  miracles  this 
book  is  itself  the  greatest  miracle.  For  here  we  have  a 
system  of  religious  doctrine  and  beliefs  that  has  been 
built  up  without  the  help  of  the  Greek  philosophy,  by 
unlearned  persons,  and  that  has,  more  than  any  other 
exercised  an  influence  for  good  upon  the  hearts  and  lives 
of  men.  Immanuel  Kant. 

He  succeeds  in  his  undertakings  just  so  far  as  he  is 
able  to  incorporate  the  spirit  of  the  Bible  in  his  work. 

Wm.  T.  Stead. 

As  well  imagine  a  man  with  a  sense  for  culture  not 
cultivating  it  by  the  help  of  Greek  art,  and  a  man  with  a 
sense  for  poetry  not  cultivating  it  by  the  help  of  Homer 
and  Shakespeare,  as  a  man  with  a  sense  of  conduct  not 
cultivating  it  by  the  help  of  the  Bible. 

Matthew  Arnold. 

The  immediate  work  of  our  day  is  the  study  of  the 
Bible.  Other  studies  will  act  upon  the  progress  of 
mankind  by  acting  through  and  upon  this. 

Dr.  Temple. 


JSible  Stut)^ 


"The  Bible  is  driving  back  the  horizon  of  war, "  is  the 
striking  phrasing  of  a  truth  expressed  by  the  Hon. 
Charles  W.  Fairbanks. 

Slowly  the  Bible  of  the  race  is  writ, 

And  not  on  paper  leaves  nor  leaves  of  stone; 

Each  age,  each  kindred,  adds  to  it. 

Texts  of  despair  or  hope,  of  joy  or  moan. 

While  swings  the  sea,  while  mists  the  mountains  shroud, 

While  thundVous  surges  burst  on  cliffs  of  cloud, 

Still  at  the  Prophet's  feet  the  nations  sit.        Lowell, 

"A.  Lincoln,  his  own  Book, "  were  words  found  in  the 
cover  of  Lincoln's  well-worn  Bible. 

I  believe  that  the  Bible  should  not  only  be  taught  in 
every  public  school,  but  that  it  should  have  the  first  place, 
and  that  every  other  study  should  be  made  subordinate. 

Professor  Wm.  Lyon  Phelps. 

The  Honorable  James  Bryce  in  writing  to  the  World's 
Sixth  Simday-School  Convention  said:  "  Had  I  been 
able  to  be  with  you,  I  should  have  said  some  words 
regarding  the  special  and  urgent  need  which  seems  to 
exist  in  our  time  for  maintaining  in  the  general  scheme  of 
education  the  place  of  religious  instruction,  and  especially 
the  proper  knowledge  of  the  Bible. " 

The  best  of  allies  you  can  procure  for  us  is  the  Bible. 
That  will  bring  us  the  reality — Freedom. 

Garibaldi. 

I  believe  the  Bible  is  inspired  because  it  inspires  me. 

Coleridge. 

The  sole  use  of  the  collective  inspired  library,  volumi- 
nous though  it  may  be,  is  to  teach  men  two  very  brief 


ITn  tbe  Morft  ot  %itc 


rules  of  action,  or  rather  principles  of  living — love  to 
God  and  love  to  man.  These  are  the  concentrated 
golden  products  of  a  wonderful  profusion  of  law,  history, 
psalmody,  prophecy,  and  philosophy,  which  make  up  the 
Old  and  the  New  Testament.  The  human  mind  is  so 
constituted  that  it  does  not  readily  assimilate  concen- 
trated, abstract  truth;  otherwise,  the  great  collection  of 
sacred  writings  might  at  once  be  reduced  to  a  simple 
statement  of  the  two  all-inclusive  motives  before  noted. 
That  this  fine  gold  of  principle  may  be  received  and 
transmuted  into  living  spiritual  fiber,  it  must  be  pre- 
sented in  all  possible  combinations  and  conditions,  seen 
at  all  angles  and  in  different  lights,  and  tested  in  its 
application  to  varying  ages,  nations,  and  civilizations. 
Its  essence  must  flow  into  the  lives  of  the  rich  and  poor, 
high  and  low;  its  qualities  must  be  exhibited  in  all  stages 
of  development  from  germ  planting  through  successive 
states  of  growth  to  blossoming  and  full  fruition;  its 
energy  must  be  brought  into  contact  with  prosperity, 
knowledge,  and  ignorance,  nations  and  individuals. 
It  has  one  message,  but  many  interpretations ;  one  melody 
but  endless  variations.  Henry  Wood. 

Truth  is  one; 
And,  in  all  lands  beneath  the  sun 
Whoso  hath  eyes  to  see  may  see 
The  tokens  of  its  unity.  .  .  . 
In  Vedic  verse,  in  dull  Koran, 
Are  messages  of  good  to  Man; 
The  angels  to  our  Aryan  sires 
Talked  by  the  earliest  household  fires; 
The  Prophets  of  the  elder  day, 
The  slant-eyed  sages  of  Cathay, 
Read  not  the  riddle  all  amiss 
Of  higher  life  evolved  from  this. 


Bible  Stut)^ 


Nor  doth  it  lessen  what  He  taught, 

Or  make  the  Gospel  Jesus  brought 

Less  precious,  that  His  lips  retold 

Some  portion  of  that  truth  of  old ; 

Denying  not  the  proven  seers, 

The  tested  wisdom  of  the  years; 

Confirming  with  His  own  impress 

The  common  law  of  righteousness. 

We  search  the  world  for  truth;  we- cull 

The  good,  the  true,  the  beautiful. 

From  graven  stone  and  written  scroll, 

From  all  old  flower  fields  of  the  soul; 

And  weary  seekers  of  the  best. 

We  come  back  laden  from  our  quest, 

To  find  that  all  the  Sages  said 

Is  in  the  Book  our  mothers  read. 

And  all  our  treasure  of  old  thought 

In  His  harmonious  fullness  wrought, 

Who  gathers  in  one  sheaf  complete 

The  scattered  blades  of  God's  sown  wheat, — 

The  common  growth  that  maketh  good 

His  all  embracing  Fatherhood. 

Whittier. 


WHY  STUDY  THE  BIBLE? 

Bible  study  has  three  distinct  and  indispensable  uses 
for  the  modern  man  or  woman. 

First:  Bible  Study  Gives  the  Facts  Concerning 
Christianity. — Paul  commended  the  Bereans,  who,  in  his 
judgment,  "were  more  noble  than  those  in  Thessalonica, 
in  that  they  received  the  word  with  all  readiness  of  mind, 
and  searched  the  Scriptures  daily,  whether  these  things 
were  so. "  The  Bible  contains  the  best  accounts  extant  of 
God,  His  nature,  His  character,  and  His  dealings  with  men. 


fn  tbe  Morft  of  Xite 


A  man's  life  usually  reflects  his  idea  of  the  character  of 
God.  He  may  think  of  Deity  as  primarily  a  God  of  Jus- 
tice, and  the  great  word  for  him  will  be  "  Duty" ;  he  may 
find  God's  chief  message  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  Gospel 
of  Matthew,  which  commands  to  go  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,  and  his  God  will  be 
one  of  missionary  injunction;  he  may  think  of  God  as  a 
great  potentate  or  ruler  to  be  appeased  by  offerings, 
sacrifices,  and  many  prayers  in  accordance  with  certain 
Oriental  customs  of  the  present  day,  and  his  God  will  be 
one  largely  of  fear  or  penalty;  a  man  may  also  find  his 
God  in  an  all-embracing  Pantheism,  in  the  spaces  of 
woods  and  sea  and  air  he  may  worship,  and  the  name  of 
his  God  is  Nature;  or  he  may  personalize  his  Deity, 
finding  him,  in  the  words  of  Tennyson, 

"Closer  than  breathing,  nearer  than  hands  and  feet," 

and  his  God  will  be  more  nearly  of  the  character  in  which 
Jesus  seemed  to  think  of  Him  in  his  oft-repeated  term 
"Father." 

Since  everyone  must  worship  his  own  God,  or  his  own 
idea  of  "  the  power  not  ourselves  that  makes  for  righteous- 
ness," it  is  well  for  the  individual  to  ask  and  to  answer 
clearly  the  question,  "What  kind  of  God  am  I  serving?" 

The  Bible  gives  a  distinct  message  in  regard  to  the 
character  of  the  Supreme  Being,  and  this  message,  inter- 
preted from  the  point  of  view  of  various  nations  and 
peoples,  fitted  to  their  education  and  their  diverse  char- 
acteristics, has  made  the  Bible  more  universally  the  book 
of  religion  than  any  other  literature  extant. 

The  Bible  has  lasted  two  thousand  years  and  to-day  is 
the  best  selling  book  in  the  world .  Its  issues  average  more 
than  fifteen  million  copies  yearly ;  more  Bibles  in  different 
languages  are  sold  each  year  than  any  other  hundred 
books  together;  this  Book  has  been  translated  into  four 


10  Bible  Stub^ 


hundred  and  eighty  different  languages  and  dialects; 
it  is  being  studied  annually  by  more  than  a  half-million 
young  men  and  young  women  in  connection  with  or- 
ganized Bible  classes  in  the  churches;  during  the  college 
year  1912-13,  48,398  students  of  the  colleges  and  univer- 
sities of  the  United  States  and  Canada  were  reported  as 
engaged  for  a  part  of  the  year  at  least  in  voluntary  Bible 
study;  the  Sunday-schools  of  many  lands  report  from 
twenty-five  to  twenty-eight  millions  of  pupils  studying 
the  Bible  each  season;  twenty-seven  Bible  societies  are 
printing  this  Book,  one  in  the  United  States,  three  in 
Great  Britain,  and  twenty-three  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  aggregating  a  total  output  of  Bibles  year  by  year 
of  not  less  than  twelve  million  copies;  the  Oxford  Press 
alone  is  reported  as  publishing  on  the  average  twenty 
thousand  Bibles  every  week  in  the  year;  the  total  annual 
issue  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  year  1 910  in  all  languages 
and  in  all  nations  reached  the  impressive  figure  of 
nineteen  million  volumes. 

In  view  of  such  practical  and  universal  interest  in  this 
literature,  can  any  person,  quite  regardless  of  his  belief 
or  his  race  or  his  station,  afford  to  disregard  or  neglect 
Bible  study,  and  still  claim  to  be  educated  or  to  be 
capable  of  a  clear  knowledge  of  the  religious  facts  which 
have  so  largely  shaped  and  are  increasingly  shaping  the 
acts  and  the  thoughts  of  the  world's  population?  A  man 
entered  my  office  some  years  ago  and  said,  "What  do  you 
personally  know  about  God?"  This  question  in  sub- 
stance must  be  answered  without  equivocation  and  with 
some  definite  expression  by  the  men  and  women  who 
make  any  claim  for  leadership  or  influence  in  the  life  of 
to-day.  To  answer  such  questions  one  must  know  the 
facts  about  religion,  because  in  religion  as  in  science  facts 
precede  opinion.  It  matters  little  comparatively  what 
I  may  think  or  what  I  may  say  concerning  such  deep 


Hn  tbe  miorh  ot  Xite  1 1 

matters  as  the  meaning  of  life,  the  character  of  God, . 
my  relationship  with  my  fellows,  unless  my  ideas  are 
firmly  grounded  in  the  fundamental  facts  of  history  and 
the  best  experience  of  the  world's  great  men.  Justice 
Charles  E.  Hughes  once  said  to  a  man  who  was  giving 
evidence  on  the  witness  stand,  "Your  opinions  are 
interesting,  but  unfortimately  they  do  not  seem  to  be 
based  upon  any  factual  evidence. "  The  Bible  gives  this 
factual  evidence  concerning  God,  man,  and  the  human 
soul.  It  is  therefore  incontestably  worth  while  to  study 
the  Bible. 

This  revelation  of  God  and  the  Bible  is  given  largely 
through  the  life,  the  teaching,  and  the  example  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  it  is  the  Gospel  of  Christ  which  makes  the 
Bible  and  Christianity  unique,  differentiating  it  from 
Islam,  Buddhism,  and  other  faiths.  The  aim  of  Jesus 
as  he  stated  it  was  to  reveal  to  men  the  character  of  God 
by  means  of  spirit,  word,  and  deed,  in  order  that  no  man 
could  mistake  the  nature  of  the  Deity.  His  emphasis 
was  upon  the  spirit  of  Christianity  rather  than  upon  its 
letter,  and  as  Matthew  Arnold  has  said,  the  chief  means 
of  discovering  God  and  Christianity  is  by  clearly  con- 
ceiving and  expressing  the  spirit  and  method  of  Jesus. 
Thus  the  Bible  becomes  the  scientific  and  historical,  as 
well  as  the  ever-essential  fact-book  of  religion. 

Second  :  Bible  Study  Points  the  Way  to  Successful 
Character  Making. — There  are  two  ways  by  which 
Bible  study  affects  character.  In  the  first  place  it  reveals 
to  men  their  real  selves  in  contrast  to  the  conceptions  and 
opinions  of  friends  and  acquaintances  who  never  thor- 
oughly understand  us  in  the  depths  of  our  hearts.  There 
is  something  distinctly  personal  about  a  sincere  study  of 
the  Word  of  God.  It  is  not  merely  interesting  and  enter- 
taining, it  is  also  revolutionary,  transforming,  and  recon- 
structing.    No  one  can   read  the  words  of  Jesus  with 


12  J5ible  Stut)^ 


regularity  and  reflection  without  being  consciously  or 
unconsciously  changed  thereby ;  they  are  like  the  air  of 
the  mountains  or  Hke  the  song  of  birds,  or  the  fresh  pure 
winds  sweeping  across  a  clear  lake ;  they  change  both  the 
environment  and  the  direction  of  one's  thoughts.  I  am 
writing  these  words  in  the  valley  of  Interlaken  facing  the 
snows  of  the  Eiger  and  the  Jungfrau,  having  come  here 
directly  from  the  hot  streets  of  Oriental  Cairo.  The 
change  is  more  than  physical,  it  is  also  mental,  it  is 
spiritual.  It  is  as  different  as  the  pure-hearted  and 
simple  peasant  of  Switzerland,  working  on  his  green 
moimtainsides,  is  different  from  the  material  and  often 
commercially  dishonest  Turco-Egyptian,  sitting  in  his 
hot  caf^,  talking  money  and  politics.  The  Bible  gives  us 
the  air  in  which  the  individual  soul  can  breathe  and  grow. 
For  a  moment  at  least  it  sweeps  the  vision  of  men  to 
the  hills  from  whence  cometh  their  help,  it  gives  quiet 
and  composure  in  the  air  where  right  thoughts  and 
right  decisions  can  be  made,  it  brings  us  to  God,  by 
bringing  us  to  ourselves. 

A  second  advantage  in  character  building  seciu-ed 
from  Bible  study  is  that  of  actively  and  decisively  facing 
our  temptations  and  our  obstacles.  Bible  study  brings  us 
to  the  soul's  battle-ground.  The  chief  hope  of  personal 
religion  lies,  in  the  beginning,  in  the  honest  willingness  to 
face  one's  self  and  one's  own  conscience  in  the  loneliness 
of  individual  personality.  The  Bible  is  a  militant  book, 
it  is  a  book  of  warfare,  and  not  simply  a  sermon  on  the 
moxmt.  "I  came  not  to  bring  peace,"  said  Jesus,  "but 
a  sword, "  and  he  died  on  the  Cross.  Every  individual 
has  his  own  fight  for  character;  it  is  his  own  pecuhar 
fight  with  his  own  peculiar  enemies  and  weaknesses ;  it  is 
usually  a  lonely  battle;  like  the  Master  a  man  enters  his 
Gethsemane  alone. 

Bible  study  not  only  shows  the  battle-field,  but  serves 


Hn  tbe  "Crnorft  ot  Xite  13 

as  guide  and  helper  concerning  the  rules  of  the  combat, 
and  the  way  to  victory.  A  strong  athlete  in  one  of  the 
colleges  came  to  me  one  day  and  said,  "For  three  months 
I  have  been  putting  up  the  biggest  fight  of  my  life.  It  is 
bigger  than  any  battle  I  have  attempted  to  fight  upon 
the  football  field.  It  is  my  fight  for  manhood  and  for 
purity  and, "  he  added  with  a  determined  and  encourag- 
ing smile,  "slowly  and  siu*ely  I  am  getting  the  victory." 
I  asked  him  the  rules  of  his  game.  He  said,  "I  have 
spent  one  hour  each  morning  for  three  months  in  Bible 
study,  and  the  thoughtful  realization  of  the  things  I  was 
up  against  and  the  things  which  are  most  vitally  worth 
while  for  me. "  In  this  particular  instance  I  knew  that 
it  meant  for  the  young  man  a  fight  and  a  sacrifice  similar 
to  that  represented  by  Jesus  in  the  figure  of  plucking 
out  the  right  eye  or  cutting  off  the  right  hand,  in  order 
that  the  man  might  enter  into  the  life  that  was  intended 
for  him.  It  was  worth  the  struggle,  however,  for  the 
prize  was  that  of  self-control,  the  prize  of  character. 

Fifteen  minutes  daily  in  the  environment  of  this  great 
literature  will  calm,  strengthen,  and  brace  moral  and 
spiritual  will  power  in  a  degree  beyond  any  words  to 
express.  I  consider  a  daily  habit  of  Bible  study  the 
most  important  human  agency  in  existence  to  secure 
strong  character,  and  character  is  the  chief  element  in 
all  abiding  success. 

Third  :  Bible  Study  Creates  Ambition. — The  Bible 
is  the  book  of  human  biography — the  biography  of  men 
who  failed  and  succeeded,  who  sinned  and  were  forgiven, 
who  fell  amid  all  the  human  frailties  known  to  our  own 
flesh  and  who  rose  triumphantly  above  them  through 
the  power  of  Almighty  God.  Here  is  the  book  that 
tells  us  of  men  who,  like  Moses,  deliberately  turned 
their  backs  upon  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season  in 
order  that  they  might  gain  more  valuable  satisfactions; 


14  3Bible  Stubp 


in  the  case  of  Moses  that  he  might  immortalize  his  name 
by  leading  his  people  forty  years  across  desert  sands  to 
their  promised  land.  Moses  himself  did  not  enter  the 
promised  land,  but  he  saw  it  from  Mount  Nebo  and  he 
died  in  song. 

The  Bible  tells  us  of  men  like  Paul,  the  first  and  the 
greatest  missionary  hero,  who  died  in  chains,  but  whose 
spirit  rose  above  his  imprisonment  as  the  Matterhom 
rises  above  its  perilous  slopes,  having  achieved  his  am- 
bition as  he  cried,  **I  have  fought  a  good  fight — I  have 
kept  the  faith."  The  influence  of  the  Bible  creates 
the  kind  of  ambition  that  the  young  artist  possessed  who 
in  the  midst  of  his  failure  did  not  fail,  because,  as  he 
looked  upon  the  masterpiece  of  the  great  artist  with 
whom  he  was  studying,  he  felt  something  stirring  within 
him  which  made  him  cry  out  exultingly,  "I,  too,  am  a 
painter." 

A  further  stir  to  this  indomitable  ambition  created 
by  Bible  study,  lies  in  the  fact  that  we  are  shown  in  the 
pages  of  Scripture  that  God's  purpose  never  fails,  that 
God's  men  are  never  really  defeated,  and  that  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven  is  never  overthrown.  It  keeps  alive 
the  consciousness  that  the  man  who  follows  right  laws 
cannot  fail  because  it  reminds  him  that  God  is  on  the 
side  of  the  man  who  is  right  and  who  does  right. 

It  revives  old,  dead  ambitions.  It  makes  a  man  believe 
again  in  his  old  ideals,  the  ideals  that  have  been  hidden 
and  crushed  down  in  his  contact  with  the  world  and  his 
reverses.  It  shows  him  God's  all-powerful  hand  and  the 
love  unchanging  which  has  always  been  about  him, 
could  he  but  realize  it;  he  dares  again  with  the  daring 
of  youth  because  he  realizes  that  "if  God  be  for  him, 
who  can  be  against  him  ?** 


In  tbe  Morft  ot  %itc  15 

QUESTIONS  FOR  THOUGHT  AND   DISCUSSION 

Have  you  ever  read  the  Book  of  Job  at  a  sitting,  the 
book  that  Victor  Hugo  called,  "The  greatest  piece  of 
literature  ever  written  with  a  pen"? 

Did  the  Sunday-school  we  attended  give  us  a  real 
knowledge  of  God  through  Bible  study?  Is  it  doing  it 
to-day?  What  can  we  do  to  bring  about  such  desirable 
results? 

"I  don't  remember  anything  he  said,  but  I  re- 
member him,''  was  the  remark  made  to  me  by  a  col- 
lege student  concerning  his  Bible  teacher.  What  do  you 
think  should  be  the  chief  aim  of  a  Bible  class  teacher? 
What  should  be  his  best  method  of  achieving  that  aim? 

II  Timothy  2  :  15. 

Luther  said  that  some  days  he  was  so  busy  and  so 
much  worried  that  he  thought  it  necessary  to  spend  at 
least  two  hours  in  prayer.  In  these  busy  days  is  it 
feasible  to  try  to  get  men  and  women  to  form  habits 
of  daily  Bible  study?  Is  it  lost  time?  State  reasons 
upon  both  sides.  Consider  the  example  of  Jesus  in  this 
regard.  Are  Bible  study  and  prayer  naturally  con- 
nected?   If  so,  why? 

What  kind  of  Bible  study  has  been  of  greatest  ad- 
vantage to  you  personally? 

The  following  books  have  helped  many  persons  to 
discover  the  Bible:  Bushnell's  The  Character  of  Jesus; 
Hamack's  What  is  Christianity  ?;  the  lives  of  Drummond 
by  George  Adam  Smith  and  Lockhart ;  Fairbairn's  Life 
of  Christ;  Peabody's  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question; 
The  Teaching  of  Jesus  and  his  Apostles,  by  Bosworth. 
What  books  have  been  most  helpful  to  you?  In  either 
the  spirit  of  interpreting  the  Bible  or  in  the  method  of 
its  study? 


i6        35iblc  Stu^l^  in  tbe  Ximorft  ot  Xlte 

The  point  of  view  of  approaching  the  Bible  is 
quite  as  important  as  any  method  of  its  study.  What 
should  determine  that  point  of  view?  What  value  do 
you  place  upon  the  historical  method  of  modern  Biblical 
study,  in  the  light  of  the  discoveries  of  scientific  archae- 
ology, and  upon  books  like  that  of  Professor  Rauschen- 
buch's  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis  leading  to  the 
application  of  the  Bible  to  social  questions? 

In  Mohammedan  lands  much  of  the  time  of  certain 
missionaries  is  given  to  controversy  and  argumentation 
with  Moslems  regarding  the  Bible  and  the  Koran. 
What  do  you  think  of  the  value  or  the  advantage  or 
disadvantage  of  argument  over  creeds  or  theological 
problems  in  the  Bible  class? 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  it  is  impossible  to  read 
the  Bible  using  the  intellect  alone,  as  one  would  read 
Aristotle  or  Kant;  students  in  school  often  remark  that 
Bible  study  in  the  curriculum  where  the  Scripture  is 
studied  solely  intellectually,  differs  from  Bible  study  in 
an  informal  and  voluntary  Bible  group.  What  in  your 
opimon  is  the  reason  for  this? 

Job  5:  8-27;  Deut.  30:  8-20;  Col.  2:  2-3;  II  Peter 
1 :2-3 ;  Romans  10: 1-18;  Proverbs  2  and  3;  Psalm 
119;  John  15. 


II 

What  Is  Christianity  ? 


tf 


II 

WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind.  This  is 
the  first  and  great  commandment,  and  a  second  like  unto 
it  is  this,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  On 
these  two  commandments  the  whole  law  hangeth  and  the 
Prophets.  Matthew  22 :  37-40. 

But  when  he  came  to  himself  he  said.  How  many  hired 
servants  of  my  father's  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare 
and  I  perish  here  with  hunger.  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my 
father,  and  will  say  unto  him,  Father,  I  have  sinned 
against  Heaven  and  in  thy  sight;  I  am  no  more  worthy 
to  be  called  thy  son;  make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  ser- 
vants. And  he  arose  and  came  to  his  father.  But  while 
he  was  yet  afar  off  his  father  saw  him  and  was  moved  with 
compassion  and  ran  and  fell  on  his  neck  and  kissed  him. 
And  the  son  said  unto  him,  Father,  I  have  sinned  against 
Heaven  and  in  thy  sight:  I  am  no  more  worthy  to  be 
called  thy  son.  But  the  father  said  to  his  servants, 
Bring  forth  quickly  the  best  robe  and  put  it  on  him;  and 
put  a  ring  on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on  his  feet ;  and  bring 
the  fatted  calf  and  kill  it  and  let  us  eat  and  make  merry ; 
for  this  my  son  was  dead  and  is  alive  again;  he  was  lost 
and  is  found.     And  they  began  to  be  merry. 

Luke  15:  17-24. 

Beloved,  let  us  love  one  another,  for  love  is  of  God. 

I  John  4:  7. 
19 


20  JBtble  Stubp 


God  is  love;  and  he  that  abideth  in  love  abideth  in 
God,  and  God  abideth  in  him. 

There  is  no  fear  in  love;  but  perfect  love  casteth  out 
fear,  because  fear  hath  punishment;  and  he  that  feareth 
is  not  made  perfect  in  love. 

If  a  man  say  I  love  God,  and  hateth  his  brother,  he  is 
a  liar;  for  he  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath 
seen  cannot  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen. 

I  John  4: 16,  18,  20. 

But  now  abideth  faith,  hope,  love,  these  three;  and  the 
greatest  of  these  is  love.  I  Cor.  13 :  13. 

Pure  religion  and  undefiled  before  our  God  and  Father 
is  this,  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction 
and  to  keep  oneself  unspotted  from  the  world. 

James  i  :  27. 

All  the  paths  of  Jehovah  are  loving- kindness  and  truth 
Unto  such  as  keep  his  covenant  and  his  testimonies. 

Psalms  25 :  10. 

He  hath  showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good;  and  what 
doth  Jehovah  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly  and  to  love 
kindness,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ? 

MiCAH  6:  8. 

To  them  that  hath  no  might  he  increaseth  strength. 

Is.  40:  29. 


WITNESS  OF  MEN 

Christianity — the  greatest  and  happiest  stroke  ever 
yet  made  for  human  perfection. 

M.  Arnold. 

To  love  God  and  make  oneself  loved  by  Him,  to  love 


In  the  limorft  of  %itc  21 

one's  neighbors  and  to  make  oneself  loved  by  them, — 
this  is  morality  and  religion;  in  both  the  one  and  the 
other,  love  is  everything — end,  beginning,  and  middle. 

JOUBERT. 

For  the  love  of  God  is  broader  than  the  measure  of 

man*s  mind 
And  the  heart  of  the  Eternal  is  most  wonderfully  kind. 

F.  W.  Faber. 

Religion  is  the  love  of  God,  not  the  fear  of  the  devil. 

Sir  John  Lubbock. 

But  to  love  is  the  great  amulet  which  makes  the  world 
a  garden. 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 

I  could  conceive  the  existence  of  an  established  Church 
which  should  be  a  blessing  to  the  community.  A  church 
in  which,  week  by  week,  services  should  be  devoted,  not 
to  the  iteration  of  abstract  propositions  and  theology,  but 
for  the  setting  before  men's  minds  of  an  ideal  of  true,  just, 
and  pure  living;  a  place  in  which  those  who  are  weary 
of  the  burden  of  daily  cares  should  find  a  moment's  rest 
in  the  contemplation  of  the  higher  life  which  is  possible 
for  all  though  attained  by  so  few;  a  place  in  which  the 
man  of  strife  and  of  business  should  have  to  think  how 
small  after  all  are  the  awards  he  covets  compared  with 
Peace  and  Charity.  Depend  upon  it,  if  such  a  Chtu-ch 
existed,  no  one  would  seek  to  disestablish  it. 

Huxley. 

Most  religions  are  meant  to  be  straight  lines  connecting 
two  points — God  and  man;  but  Christianity  has  three 
points — God,  man,  and  his  brother,  with  two  lines  to 
make  a  right  angle. 

Maltbie  D.  Babcock. 


22  »ible  Stuby 


To  love  is  to  understand  everything. 

Old  French  Proverb. 

Above  all  things  do  not  touch  Christianity  unless  you 
are  willing  to  seek  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  first.  I 
promise  you  a  miserable  existence  if  you  seek  it  second. 

Henry  Drummond. 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY  ? 

A  man's  religion  is  his  conception  of  God.  Find  out 
what  a  nation  worships  and  you  will  discover  the  nation's 
faith. 

You  will  find  in  Asia  people  who  worship  their  deities 
with  an  idea  of  appeasing  them  or  for  the  purpose  of 
warding  off  misfortune  from  their  homes.  Their  religion 
is  one  of  fear.  In  Europe  as  in  America  you  will  find 
people  who  worship  in  beautiful  churches  by  the  use  of 
beautiful  forms,  forms  that  appeal  to  the  aesthetic  and  to 
the  emotional  and  to  the  sense  of  the  customary.  Their 
religion  is  one  of  ritual. 

Christ  in  the  religion  which  he  taught  replaced  fear  by 
love,  he  replaced  the  rehgion  of  the  letter  with  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Spirit.  He  laid  his  emphatic  work  upon  the 
positive  rather  than  the  negative  side  of  reUgion.  His 
teachings  were  constant  affirmations  with  very  few  nega- 
tions. The  possibilities  rather  than  the  misfortunes  of 
human  beings  were  made  foremost,  and  the  "Thou  shalt 
not"  of  the  Old  Testament  was  changed  into  the  "Thou 
shalt"  of  the  New. 

Christ  stood  for  a  religion  of  doing  something,  not  of 
merely  refraining  from  evil.  That  men  should  act  lov- 
ingly, kindly,  and  righteously  is  more  important  than 
that  they  should  not  do  wrong.     To  be  sure  he  affirms 


Hn  tbe  Morft  ot  Xite  23 

the  ten  commandments  and  says,  "Not  one  jot  nor  tittle 
of  the  law  shall  pass,"  but  we  catch  the  trend  of 
his  spiritual  message,  we  see  his  real  Messiahship  and 
Saviorhood,  as  well  as  our  own  joyous  incentive  and 
redemption,  when  he  says,  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor 
as  thyself,"  or  "As  my  Father  hath  loved  me,  so  have  I 
loved  you, "  or  again  as  he  stirs  the  human  heart  by  the 
clarion  call,  "Go  work  to-day,"  "My  Father  worketh 
hitherto  and  I  work. "  That  "Go  and  do  thou  Hkewise " 
injunction  at  the  end  of  the  parable  of  the  good  Samari- 
tan is  worth  msLTiy  books  of  advice  concerning  the  theory 
of  creeds  and  laws.  These  are  things  that  we  can  do,  and 
the  hearts  of  men  are  filled  with  confidence  in  the  pres- 
ence of  achievement.  We  are  never  so  sure  of  the  things 
we  are  commanded  not  to  do. 

Jesus  always  talks  more  about  faith  than  he  does  about 
fear,  and  faith  is  positive — it  springs  from  love  and  it  leads 
to  love.  When  manifested  toward  God  it  reveals  the  inher- 
ent desire  to  do  right,  to  be  right,  in  order  to  please  a  con- 
siderate and  loving  Father,  not  because  we  are  afraid  of 
him.  That  inner  desire,  that  "fixed  design  of  righteous- 
ness," is  the  seed  com  of  Christ's  Gospel,  the  password  into 
his  fellowship,  the  sign  of  membership  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven.  Christianity  is  a  renewed  possibility  every  day 
of  making  a  clean  record  with  the  past  blotted  out  through 
the  forgiveness  of  a  Divine  Father's  love,  a  Father  whose 
heart  is  touched  with  the  feeling  for  human  infirmi- 
ties and  who  really  cares  deeply,  far  more  deeply 
than  we  know,  for  our  success.  This  is  a  religion  of 
reciprocal  loving-kindness.  It  makes  men  love  others 
because  of  the  increasing  consciousness  that  God  loves 
them.  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  said,  "If  you  are  sure 
that  God  in  the  long  run  means  kindness  to  you,  you 
should  be  happy ;  and  if  happy,  surely  you  should  be  kind." 

The  more  one  studies  the  trend  and  the  spirit  of  Jesus' 


24  JBIble  Stut)i? 


teaching  the  more  one  is  convinced  that  to  him  love  was 
the  irresistible  proof  and  power  of  religion.  According 
to  the  New  Testament  it  is  the  central  characteristic  of 
God.  "God  is  Love."  The  divine  force  in  the  Chris- 
tian religion  resides  in  that  love  that  never  limits  or 
holds  back  gifts  that  are  right  for  the  children  of  men; 
it  does  not  judge  harshly  or  wait  for  the  crowd 
before  it  is  ready  with  its  sympathy;  it  is  the  love  that 
never  faileth,  that  suffers  long  and  is  kind,  that  envieth 
not  and  vaunts  not  itself,  the  love  that  is  not  proud  and 
that  does  not  behave  itself  unseemly,  seeks  not  its  own, 
is  not  provoked,  taketh  not  account  of  evil;  a  love  that 
rejoiceth  not  in  unrighteousness  but  rejoiceth  in  the 
truth ;  that  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth 
all  things,  and  endureth  all  things.  "By  this,"  says 
Jesus,  "shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if 
ye  have  love  one  to  another. " 

Christianity  meant  to  Christ  the  love  of  God  the  Father 
for  all  His  children.  But  this  love  was  to  be  reflected 
and  expressed  through  the  hearts  and  the  acts  of  man. 
We  learn  to  believe  and  understand  something  of  the 
love  of  God  by  seeing  its  reflection  in  our  earthly  father's 
attitude  toward  his  children.  If  he  is  a  true  father  he  is 
willing  to  overlook  any  fault,  however  heinous,  in  his 
child,  providing  the  child  is  sorry  and  comes  back  as  the 
prodigal  came  back  to  his  father's  home.  God's  love 
is  an  earthly  father's  love  carried  to  infinity.  Conceive 
of  the  love  of  God  by  trying  to  think  on  infinitely 
beyond  the  capacity  of  earthly  affection,  and  realizing 
that  this  is  what  Jesus  meant  for  himself  and  for  us  when 
so  often  he  said,  "Father." 

"Or  what  man  is  there  of  you,  who,  if  his  son  shall  ask 
him  for  a  loaf,  will  give  him  a  stone;  or  if  he  shall  ask  for 
a  fish,  will  give  him  a  serpent?  If  ye  then,  being  evil, 
know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much 


Hn  tbe  Morft  of  Xite  25 

more  shall  your  Father  who  is  in  Heaven  give  good  things 
unto  them  that  ask  him?  " 

The  Master's  attitude  towards  loveless  acts  and  love- 
less men  demonstrated  clearly  that  he  considered  the 
chief  crime  of  life  to  be  the  crime  against  love.  The 
fiercest  denunciations  and  the  most  wrathful  woes  that 
were  ever  hurled  from  the  lips  of  the  Son  of  Man  were 
flung  against  those  ceremonialists  of  the  Sanhedrin,  who 
had  killed  love  by  their  literalism,  monopolized  religion, 
standardized  it,  stereotyped  it,  and  juggled  with  it  in 
sleazy  religious  casuistry,  and  because  of  their  acquaint- 
ance with  the  veneer  of  religion  considered  themselves 
better  than  other  men.  Against  all  such  Pharisaism 
which,  either  in  the  first  or  in  the  twentieth  century, 
seems  to  fear  that  too  many  people  will  be  saved,  or 
takes  as  its  motto  the  calvinistic  phrase,  "I  am  saved, 
I  must  watch  the  theology  of  my  minister,  everyone  out- 
side is  damned," — against  all  this  professional  religious 
make-beUeve,  Jesus  offered  the  simple  and  conclusive 
evidence  of  a  loving,  serviceable,  sacrificing  life  for  others, 
saying  to  all  usurpers  of  religion,  "I  am  among  you  as 
one  who  serves. " 

Our  times  are  peculiarly  susceptible  to  this  type  of 
Christianity.  It  is  a  period  demanding  reality,  even 
though  it  is  a  time  of  uncertainty  and  unrest  relative  to 
the  expression  of  religion.  Yet  as  one  looks  about  him 
upon  the  real  Christian  works  of  this  present  civilization, 
as  they  are  expressed  in  solicitude  for  the  unfortunate, 
in  the  healing  of  the  sick,  and  in  the  caring  for  the  in- 
competent, one  would  not  exchange  this  new  order  for 
the  theological  guiding  stars  of  the  time  of  Jonathan 
Edwards.  It  is  a  time  when  real  religion  is  being  brought 
out  of  the  cloister  into  the  market-place  and  tried.  Its 
expression  and  its  profession  are  different  than  those 
which  our  fathers  knew,  but  is  it  not  Christ-Uke,  all  this 


26  JBtble  Stubi? 


noble  philanthropy — this  vigorous  reaction  against  sham 
methods  and  sham  men  in  religion,  in  politics,  in  national 
relations?  Did  Christ  ever  teach  that  reUgion  was  to  be 
expressed  in  any  mere  verbal  form  or  in  any  particular 
organization?  Did  he  not  say  that  God  is  a  Spirit,  and 
that  spiritual  realities  are  superior  to  the  changing  ways 
of  men? 

After  all  is  it  not  the  people  who  are  guided  by  loving- 
kindness  and  by  great-heartedness  who  are  the  true 
religionists  of  all  time,  regardless  of  the  name  and  sign 
under  which  they  live  and  labor?  Think  of  the  men 
whom  the  world  delights  to  honor,  think  of  the 
people  who  are  most  tenderly  remembered  by  yourself 
and  by  your  friends.  Are  they  those  who  have  made 
it  the  greatest  merit  that  they  are  Christians  of  "good 
form,"  are  they  those  who  have  scolded  us  and  judged 
us  harshly  and  rebuked  us,  or  are  they  the  ones  who,  like 
their  Divine  Master,  have  forgotten  our  weaknesses 
and  mistakes,  covering  all  of  our  deficiencies  with  a  man- 
tle of  large-hearted  forbearance  and  affection,  saying  as 
Jesus  said  to  the  woman  whom  the  professional  reli- 
gionists would  stone,  "Neither  do  I  condemn  thee,"  and 
thereby  heartening  us  to  go  through  our  defeats  to  cer- 
tain victory? 

The  Gospels  would  seem  to  stake  the  whole  cause  of 
Christianity  upon  as  simple  a  proposition  as  this,  to  love 
men  in  charitable  deeds  and  service  is  to  truly  live 
religiously.  Christ  seemed  ready  to  forgive  anything 
for  the  sake  of  love.  As  long  as  he  discovered  true  sorrow 
or  repentance  for  sin  he  was  ready  to  extend  his  hands  of 
help.  He  was  the  matchless  lover  of  men;  "seventy  times 
seven  times"  was  his  answer  to  Peter  who  asked  how  often 
should  we  forgive  those  who  sin  against  us.  Jesus  never 
seemed  to  despair  of  any  individual,  no  matter  how  low 
he  may  have  fallen.     He  lifted  men  by  believing  in 


IFn  tbe  Morh  ot  %itc  27 

them;  his  attitude  as  defined  by  himself  was  that  of 
"friend";  he  tried  to  establish  between  men  and  God 
a  filial  relationship. 

"  Behold  Him  now  when  He  comes ! 

Not  the  Christ  of  our  subtle  creeds, 
But  the  Lord  of  our  hearts,  of  our  homes, 

Of  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  needs; 
The  brother  of  want  and  blame, 

The  lover  of  women  and  men, 
With  a  love  that  puts  to  shame 

All  passions  of  mortal  ken." 

But  the  practical  question  arises,  how  can  I  get  such 
assurances  of  God's  love?  How  can  I  obtain  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  co-operation  in  my  daily  life?  How  can 
I  be  a  Christian? 

First. — There  is  the  process  of  turning  away  from  the 
thing  that  is  **sin"  to  me,  abandoning  the  wrong 
attitude  and  following  a  new  and  better  desire.  This  is 
spoken  of  in  the  New  Testament  as  "repentance"  or  as 
being  "bom  from  above. "  It  is  a  new  beginning  in  the 
spirit  of  obedience  to  the  wishes  of  God.  It  is  the  prodi- 
gal coming  to  himself  in  the  far  country  and  starting  out 
to  go  to  his  father's  house.  It  is  a  state  of  mind  and 
heart  in  which  a  man  will  forsake  his  sin  and  begin  to 
want  God  and  to  Hsten  to  His  "good  tidings."  It  is 
both  a  change  of  feeling  and  a  change  of  will,  a  new  state 
of  mind  and  a  new  action  to  match  it.  Its  basis  is  a 
recognition  that  we  are  wrong,  that  God  is  a  loving  Father 
and  wants  to  help  us  get  right.  It  is  both  a  desire  and  a 
petition.  It  is  also  an  action.  In  fact,  the  chief  part 
of  it  is  action,  and  a  drastic  one.  The  requirement  is 
usually  the  giving  up  of  the  thing  or  things  which  Paul 
speaks  of  as  the  "besetting  sin,"  and  this  is  always 


28  JStble  Stut)^ 


difficult  enough  to  require  something  of  a  revolution  in 
character.  To  the  rich  young  man  Jesus  said  that  the 
condition  of  entering  the  Kingdom  of  God  was  selling  all 
that  he  had  and  giving  to  the  poor,  and  "come, 
follow  me."  This  was  doubtless  an  exceptional  re- 
quirement, but  the  principle  is  a  correct  one  and  it  is 
inherent  in  any  change  which  a  man  makes  toward  God. 
Whatever  stands  between  you  and  your  highest  personal 
attainment,  precious  to  you,  to  use  Christ's  figure,  as 
your  right  hand,  your  right  eye,  or  father,  mother, 
children,  or  wife;  if  this  stands  between  you  and  your 
God  it  must  go.  This  does  not  suggest  any  lack  of  ten- 
derness or  regard  for  you  on  God's  part;  it  is  simply  in 
line  with  every  law  that  is  known,  the  law  that  says, 
"Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me."  Jesus 
emphasized  the  fact  "if  any  man  is  willing  to  do  my 
will,  he  shall  know."  Henry  Drummond  has  well  ex- 
pressed this  first  stage  of  knowing  the  love  of  God. 

"  A  heart  not  quite  subdued  to  God  is  an  imperfect 
element  in  which  His  wUl  can  never  live ;  and  the  intellect 
which  belongs  to  such  a  heart  is  an  imperfect  instrument 
and  cannot  find  God's  will  unerringly,  for  God's  will  is 
foimd  in  regions  which  obedience  only  can  explore." 

And  furthermore,  the  moment  this  willingness  is 
followed  by  the  act,  a  new  relationship  to  God  is  dis- 
covered, and  one  finds  that,  as  Jesus  said,  "My  yoke  is 
easy  and  my  burden  is  Ught. "  When  the  lost  son 
turned  his  back  upon  his  disobedience  and  the  husks  of 
the  far-away  country,  the  father's  home  and  welcome 
became  far  more  attractive  to  him  than  the  things  he 
abandoned.  When  we  repent  our  besetting  sin  loses  its 
charm,  and  we  wonder  at  its  former  hold  upon  us. 

Second. — The  next  step  is  also  important,  the  apply- 
ing of  this  newly-found  will  of  God  to  our  individual 
careers.     Christianity  is  not  a  cloud-like  affair  floating 


Hn  tbe  Morft  of  Xite  29 

away  in  some  unattached  emotion;  it  is  a  vital  principle 
with  direct  relation  to  our  personal  careers.  The  prodi- 
gal had  something  more  to  do  than  to  return  home  and  be 
received  by  his  father.  He  needed  to  incorporate  this 
new  desire  step  by  step  in  his  forthcoming  new  environ- 
ment. Now  that  I  am  willing  to  give  up  the  thing  that 
was  keeping  me  back,  what  is  God's  particular  message 
in  my  particular  place  in  life?  What  is  the  private  part 
of  God's  will  which  has  to  do  with  my  individual  vocation 
and  is  different  from  His  will  for  any  other  individual? 
It  is  the  question,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  we  to  do?  " 

For  example,  I  am  a  business  man  and  I  want  to  suc- 
ceed as  a  business  man.  I  must  succeed,  success  is  right 
for  me,  but  how?  Can  I  take  God  with  me  to-day  in 
everything  I  do  and  think?  Is  my  attitude  towards  my 
nearest  friends  in  the  home  pleasing  to  Him?  Then  in 
my  office,  am  I  in  my  inmost  heart  doing  right?  Would 
Christ  make  the  decisions  concerning  my  employees  or 
concerning  my  fellow- workers  that  I  am  making  to-day? 
Can  I  take  him  into  my  pleasures,  into  my  secret  ambi- 
tions? Has  religion  actually  changed  me?  Have  I 
placed  in  the  room  of  my  surrendered  weakness  some 
larger  and  finer  aim  ? 

Not  that  we  are  always  to  expect  easy  victories,  not 
that  we  are  to  anticipate  becoming  angels  of  light  in 
our  relationships  to  our  home  or  our  business.  The 
course  of  a  human  life  like  that  of  a  sailing  ship,  is  a 
zigzag,  with  many  tacks,  but  in  the  main  a  progress 
toward  the  home  port,  which  is  God.  Repentance  is  not 
an  act  to  be  experienced  once  and  for  all.  It  is  to  be 
repeated  again  and  again,  as  long  and  as  often  as  there  is 
discovered  evil  to  be  renounced.  The  Kingdom  of 
God  is  always  at  hand  to  the  soul  who  is  always  ready  to 
confess  his  sin  and  to  abandon  it. 

Third. — If  you  are   willing  to  assume  this  attitude 


30  JSible  Stut)i? 


of  mind  and  act  upon  it,  then  it  is  your  business  to  be- 
lieve in  God  and  go  ahead  without  a  shadow  of  fear. 
Then  comes  God's  part,  which  in  a  sense  is  primary, 
though  it  seems  secondary.  Human  effort  is  not  enough, 
although  it  is  indispensable.  Remember  that  the  saving 
of  men  from  sin  and  the  helping  of  them  in  their  work  to 
their  largest  success  is  the  dearest  desire  of  God*s  heart. 
God  the  Father's  fimdamental  characteristic  is  that  of 
love  and  the  Saviourhood  of  his  children,  whom  He 
delights  to  help.  Remember  that  it  is  His  joy  to  do  men 
good,  that  He  is  watching  for  us  to  come  home,  as  in  the 
wonderful  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  that  reveals  vividly 
the  heart  and  core  of  Christianity.  "Let  the  wicked 
forsake  his  way,  and  the  unrighteous  man  his  thoughts, 
and  let  him  return  unto  Jehovah,  and  he  will  have  mercy 
upon  him ;  and  to  our  God,  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon." 
By  actively  accepting  God's  love  you  have  placed  the 
little  water-wheel  of  your  life-work  in  the  divine  current 
that  flows  by  your  door,  and  you  have  harnessed  thereby 
the  forces  of  Heaven  to  help  you  in  running  your  career. 
You  have  wired  your  house  to  the  great  dynamo  and  3^ou 
are  bound  to  get  the  Light.  You  have  begun  to  live  in 
the  eternal  order  and  the  eternal  order  never  dies,  nor 
does  it  change  nor  is  it  frustrated.  You  simply  cannot 
fail,  for  God  is  working  with  you;  you  are  working  with 
His  power  as  well  as  with  your  own,  and  you  have 
behind  you  limitless  reserves.  You  may  have  breaks 
and  failures  with  your  machinery  at  times;  you  will 
require  frequent  readjustment  of  your  plans  with  those 
of  God,  but  you  are  attached  to  Him  with  the  in- 
evitable union  of  harmonious  ideals  and  wishes.  Your 
cause  is  now  God's  cause.  Everything  will  work  to- 
gether for  good,  everything  must  so  work.  Obstacles 
will  be  things,  as  Napoleon  said,  to  be  overcome,  and  you 
will  never  say  die,  because  the  God  of  power,  of  love,  and 


•ffn  tbe  Mori?  of  %itc  31 

of  forgiveness  is  your  God  forever  and  ever.  The  very- 
adventure  and  uncertainty  of  the  future  will  draw  you 
to  Him  in  greater  daily  trust  and  dependence.  You  have 
found  what  Christianity  really  is;  you  have  taken  refuge 
with  your  life  and  your  work  in  the  friendly  circle  of 
the  divine  co-operation.  You  know  what  the  Psalmist 
meant  when  he  said, 

"  For  this  God  is  our  God  forever  and  ever; 
He  will  be  our  guide  even  unto  death.*' 

This  is  Christianity. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  THOUGHT  AND  DISCUSSION 

What  is  your  religion?  What  concrete  benefits  do  you 
derive  from  it?  What  should  a  man's  religion  do  for 
him? 

Psalm  46:1-3;  Psalm  27;  Romans  8:28;  II  Cor. 
1:4;  Phil.4:i3;  IPeters:;;  Phil.  4:19;  Matt. 
11:2-6. 

How  can  a  man  discover  the  love  of  God  for  himself? 
I  John  4:7-8.     Read  Luke  15. 

Henry  Drummond  spoke  of  "that  little  word,  sin,"  as 
a  term  which  had  wandered  out  of  theology  into  every- 
day life  and  become  the  most  real  thing  we  know.  How 
would  you  define  sin?  In  what  way  does  your  religion 
assist  you  in  relation  to  sin? 

Contrast  the  almost  universal  and  simple  manner  in 
which  Jesus  spoke  of  God  and  to  God,  using  the  strong, 
homely  word  "Father,"  with  the  strained,  servile,  and 
ceremonial  expressions  that  we  frequently  use  in  our 
formal  prayers  in  addressing  God. 

Contrast  also  with  the  Mohammedan's  ninety-nine 


32        JSible  StuOy  in  tbe  Morft  of  Xite 

names  which  he  has  given  to  Allah,  as  if  a  far-away 
potentate  needed  such  specious  adulation. 

Matthew  11:25;  John    11:41;    Luke    23:34-46; 
Matthew  26:39-42;  Matthew  6:9. 

A  young  man  coming  out  of  a  large  city  church  was 
overheard  to  say  to  his  companion,  "What  was  it  all 
about?" 

Could  you  in  a  few  words  explain  clearly  to  a  man  who 
had  never  heard  of  it,  just  what  Christianity  is?  Try  to 
formulate  in  your  own  mind  a  definition  of  Christianity, 
what  it  has  meant  to  you  as  an  individual,  what  it  means 
to  you  to-day,  what  you  would  like  to  have  it  mean  if 
you  were  not  a  Christian. 

If  God  is  love,  why  does  He  allow  worry  and  disaster? 

James  1:2-4. 

What  are  the  most  feasible  and  practical  ways  for  the 
making  real  of  Jesus'  conception  of  Christianity  in 
modem  life? 

Read  I  Cor.  13;  I  John  4;  Isaiah  55. 

Why  does  the  Catholic  Church  maintain  such  a  firm 
hold  upon  the  working  people? 

Throughout  the  churches  and  cathedrals  of  Europe 
one  looks  in  vain  for  evidence  of  class  distinction.  No 
hired  pews — no  discriminating  ushers — all,  rich  and  poor 
alike,  have  equal  access  to  the  altars  and  to  the  confes- 
sional, the  prince  and  the  pauper  kneeling  side  by  side. 
Would  you  say  that  this  democracy  was  one  of  the  chief 
sources  of  strength  of  the  Catholic  Church — because  it  is 
according  to  God's  laws? 

James  2:2-5;  Romans  id:  12-14;  Romans  2:11. 


Ill 

Choosing  and  Conducting  a  Life  Work 


33 


m 

CHOOSING  AND  CONDUCTING  A  LIFE-WORK 

But  seek  ye  first  his  kingdom  and  his  righteousness; 
and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you. 

Matthew  6:33. 

Then  came  the  word  of  Jehovah  unto  Jeremiah  sa5ring, 
Behold  I  am  Jehovah,  the  God  of  all  flesh;  is  there 
anything  too  hard  for  me? 

Jer.  32 :  26-27. 

And  he  that  sent  me  is  with  me;  he  hath  not  left  me 
alone;  for  I  do  always  the  things  that  are  pleasing  to  him. 

John  8 :  29. 

For  to  one  is  given  through  the  Spirit  the  word  of 
wisdom;  and  to  another  the  word  of  knowledge,  according 
to  the  same  Spirit;  to  another  faith,  in  the  same  Spirit; 
and  to  another  gifts  of  healings,  in  the  one  Spirit;  and  to 
another  working  of  miracles;  and  to  another  prophecy; 
and  to  another  discernings  of  spirits;  to  another  divers 
kinds  of  tongues;  and  to  another  the  interpretation  of 
tongues;  but  all  these  worketh  the  one  and  the  same 
Spirit,  dividing  to  each  one  severally  even  as  he  will. 

I  Cor.  12:8-11. 

And  for  their  sakes  I  sanctify  myself. 

John  17:19. 

With  God  all  things  are  possible. 

Matt.  19:26. 
3S 


36  Bible  StuOp 


WITNESS  OF  MEN 

I  respect  the  man  who  knows  distinctly  what  he  wishes. 
The  greater  part  of  all  the  mischief  in  the  world  arises 
from  the  fact  that  men  do  not  sufficiently  understand 
their  own  aims.  They  have  undertaken  to  build  a  tower 
and  spend  no  more  labor  on  the  foundation  than  would 
be  necessary  to  erect  a  hut. 

Goethe. 

I  will  not  dishonor  my  sacred  shield ;  I  will  not  abandon 
mv  fellow-soldiers  in  the  ranks.  I  will  do  battle  for  our 
altars  and  our  homes,  whether  aided  or  unaided;  I  will 
leave  our  country  not  less  but  greater  and  nobler  than 
she  is  now  entrusted  to  me. 

The  Old  Athenian  Oath. 

The  bigger  the  work,  the  greater  the  joy  in  doing  it. 
That  whole-hearted  striving  and  wrestling  with  difficul- 
ties, the  la)ang  hold  with  firm  grip  and  level  head  in 
calm  resolution  of  the  monster  and  tugging  and  toiling 
and  wrestling  at  it,  to-day,  to-morrow,  and  the  next  day, 
until  it  is  done — ^it  is  the  soldier's  creed  of  forward,  ever 
forward;  it  is  the  man's  creed  that  for  this  task  he  has 
been  bom. 

Stanley. 

No  undertaking  has  ever  succeeded  greatly  that  has 
had  a  merely  sensual  or  selfish  aim. 

Emerson. 

Benjamin  Disraeli  was  hissed  down  at  his  first  speech 
in  the  House  of  Commons.  As  he  took  his  seat  he  was 
heard  to  say,  "You  will  not  hear  me  now,  but  there  will 
come  a  time  when  you  will  hear  me. " 

The  only  conclusive  evidence  of  a  man's  sincerity  is 


In  tbe  Morft  of  Xite  37 

that  he  gives  himself  for  a  principle.  Words,  money  and 
time  may  be  given  away,  but  when  a  man  gives  himself, 
it  is  certain  that  the  principle  has  taken  possession  of  him. 

James  Russell  Lowell. 

Oiir  doubts  are  traitors, 
And  make  us  lose  the  good  we  oft  might  win, 
By  fearing  to  attempt. 

Shakespeare. 


CHOOSING  AND   CONDUCTING  A  LIFE-RULE 

The  high  distinction  of  the  earthly  career  of  Jesus  lay 
in  his  unshakable  conviction  and  certainty  concerning 
his  life-work.  This  matchless  sense  of  mission  and  mes- 
sage was  never  absent  from  his  thought  and  impressed 
all  who  knew  him.  He  lost  no  time  nor  progress  in 
saying  "I  hope"— *'I  think"— ''I  wish  I  knew"— he 
always  said  by  word  and  by  deed  "I  know."  "I  have 
a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with ;  and  how  am  I  straitened 
till  it  be  accomplished! " 

The  enormity  of  his  task,  which  involved  a  revolution 
in  both  the  spirit  and  method  of  religion  of  his  time,  the 
replacing  of  literalism  with  love,  begot  within  him  an 
unprecedented  audacity;  it  saved  him  from  Indolence 
and  pettiness;  it  also  eliminated  all  fear,  doubt,  timidity, 
and  half  measures,  the  arch  foes  of  success.  His  vision 
was  the  proof  of  his  power  to  attain  it  because  he  relied 
upon  superhuman  co-operation.  His  task  was  big 
enough  and  hard  enougn  to  test  his  faith  in  Omnipotence. 
No  one  could  accomplish  such  things  alone;  it  required 
God.  With  such  an  aim  Jesus  threw  himself  with  ut- 
ter abandonment  upon  the  unbreakable  promises  of  his 
Father,  who  was  with  him. 


38  Bible  Stut)^ 


Every  man  has  a  choice  between  a  mediocre  and  a 
superior  career,  between  an  easy  and  a  hard  road  in 
his  particular  vocation.  For  a  man  who  trusts  merely 
in  himself,  the  mediocre  and  the  easy  way  may  be 
safest.  The  man  whose  life  is  laid  daringly  along  the 
will  of  God  has  no  business  with  any  effort  which  is 
not  capable  of  supreme  results.  Such  a  man  will  not 
secure  his  goal  at  once  or  without  many  seeming  defeats, 
but  he  will  never  lose  his  vision;  he  will  realize  that  God 
has  time  to  accomplish  through  His  men  His  work.  He 
will  never  become  satisfied  with  the  ordinary,  he  will  be, 
in  his  partiailar  environment,  a  man  to  be  watched  be- 
cause of  his  irresistible  ambition  to  make  the  most  of  his 
life. 

There  are  three  essential  advantages  in  selecting  and 
conducting  one's  life-work  in  co-operation  with  the  will  of 
God. 

First. — A  large  undertaking  impresses  the  community 
in  which  a  man  lives  and  works  by  its  very  audacity  and 
proportion.  This  is  important  because  no  influence  can 
be  far  reaching  which  is  not  sufficiently  vital  to  startle 
into  attention  the  people  who  are  or  should  be  concerned. 
From  one  end  of  Palestine  to  the  other  the  population 
was  stirred  with  this  new  Gospel  attended  by  the  healing 
of  the  sick,  bj'  natural  friendships  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher  with  humble  folk,  so  different  from  their  idea  of 
Rabbinic  religion,  and  by  the  new  spiritual  interpretation 
placed  upon  many  of  the  formal  ritualistic  ceremonies 
of  the  Sanhedrin. 

A  certain  business  man  said  that  he  failed  because  his 
business  was  not  upon  a  large  enough  scale  to  succeed ; 
it  involved  only  the  expenditure  of  half  a  million 
dollars.  If  he  had  obtained  a  vision  ten  times  as  great 
he  could  have  attracted  the  attention  of  the  great  fin- 
anciers of  the  country. 


irn  tbe  morft  ot  Xtte  39 

A  bank  president  refused  a  loan  to  a  young  business  man, 
not  because  the  young  man  did  not  have  a  good  business, 
but  because  he  did  not  possess  the  outreaching  audacity 
to  make  the  business  what  it  should  be,  by  asking  for  a 
very  much  larger  loan.  It  was  the  spirit,  the  courage, 
and  the  faith  of  the  man  to  which  the  bank  president 
looked,  rather  than  to  the  security  of  the  present  business. 

A  few  years  ago  some  students  from  a  prominent 
university  attended  a  large  conference  of  college  men 
at  which  they  learned  of  the  remarkable  campaigns  for 
Bible  study  in  American  institutions,  and  caught  the 
vision  of  hundreds  of  their  own  fellow-students  studying 
the  Bible.  Quietly  but  determinedly  they  came  together 
and  decided  to  return  to  their  institution  to  reach  five 
hundred  students  for  Bible  study  during  the  succeeding 
college  year.  It  seemed  an  impossible  ideal,  since  only 
a  handful  of  students  had  been  studying  heretofore  and 
that  in  a  somewhat  half-hearted  way ;  the  movement  had 
not  been  popular.  This  large  endeavor,  together  with 
the  plans  made  to  reach  the  attention  of  every  collegian, 
not  only  drew  closely  together  the  little  band  of  workers, 
but  attracted  the  notice  of  the  whole  University  and  a 
large  committee  of  students  began  vigorously  canvassing 
the  student  body.  Men  came  around  "to  see  the  thing 
fail, "  as  they  said. 

The  little  band  of  students  at  the  heart  of  the  campaign, 
like  the  disciples  of  the  Master,  were  lifted  out  of  the 
mediocre  by  their  strenuous  task.  They  were  simply 
obliged  to  work  as  well  as  to  pray,  for  the  undertaking 
was  far  beyond  their  capabilities.  In  two  years  eleven 
hundred  men  were  enrolled  in  the  student  Bible  classes, 
and  the  man  who  was  the  leader  of  the  work  was  led  to 
devote  his  life  to  Bible  study  leadership  in  another  nation. 
Success  lay  in  a  large- visioned  attempt.  It  is  easier  to 
do  a  big  thing  than  a  small  thing. 


40  Bible  Stu&i? 


Second. — A  large  plan  saves  the  individual  from  falling 
by  the  very  burden  of  responsibility  which  it  places 
upon  him ;  it  saves  him  from  littleness  by  its  call  upon  his 
largest  resources.  Paul  expressed  the  fear  that  always 
lurks  about  an  impassioned,  strong  man,  lest  having 
preached  to  others  he  might  himself  be  rejected.  The 
man  who  thinks  he  standeth,  as  James  said,  must  con- 
stantly take  heed  lest  he  fall,  and  one  of  the  most  certain 
methods  of  security  is  the  acceptance  of  high  and  taxing 
obligations.  One  of  the  busiest  physicians  whom  I  know 
said  that  his  mind  was  so  utterly  occupied  during  every 
waking  moment  at  his  work,  that  certain  temptations 
which  formerly  gave  him  much  trouble,  had  no  place  in 
his  thought. 

It  was  in  the  winter  time  when  three  men  were  seen  to 
drive  up  to  a  residence  with  a  load  of  trunks.  One  of 
the  men  upon  the  sleigh  was  exceedingly  stout.  Some 
spectators  were  amused  to  see  him  try  to  walk  across  a 
slippery  sidewalk  which  led  to  the  entrance  of  the  house 
to  examine  the  number.  After  twice  falling  down  he 
finally  reached  the  sleigh  again,  when  to  the  consterna- 
tion of  the  onlookers,  the  largest  trunk  was  placed  upon 
this  stout  man's  back  and  he  was  sent  quite  alone  to 
ascend  this  icy  sidewalk.  It  was  decided  beforehand,  by 
those  who  watched  him,  that  he  would  slip  and  the  trunk 
would  overpower  him; but  not  so,  he  walked  up  the  icy 
incline,  climbed  the  slippery  steps,  and  passed  into  the 
house  without  slipping  once.  Why?  He  had  something 
big  enough  on  him  to  hold  him  down. 

No  man,  whatever  his  calling,  has  a  right  to  play  with 
a  life-work  that  is  not  filled  with  elements  big  enough  to 
keep  him  steady  upon  his  feet.  The  most  obscure 
vocation  may  be  magnified  and  dignified  into  a  mission. 
The  famous  hammer  maker  of  Scotland  said,  "My 
calling  is  an  obscure  one,  it  is  only  making  hammers, 


ITn  tbe  TlGlorF?  of  %itc  41 

but  I  am  determined  that  everyone  in  Scotland  shall 
learn  to  come  to  me  for  hammers  because  mine  are  the 
best  which  can  be  made.  '* 

Third. — Furthermore,  a  life-work  of  large  and  im- 
portant scale  tests  God.  Many  a  man  has  never  known 
what  it  means  really  to  believe  in  God,  simply  because  his 
dilemma  has  never  been  sufficiently  great  to  drive  him  to 
Omnipotent  sources.  He  has  not  been  engaged  in  a  task 
which  was  mighty  enough  to  require  divine  help. 

Phillips  Brooks  once  said,  "Pray  for  power  to  fit  your 
tasks,  not  for  tasks  to  fit  your  power."  We  cannot 
expect  the  Almighty  to  lavish  powers  and  abilities  upon 
us  if  we  do  not  have  in  mind  definite  and  profitable  ways 
to  utilize  them. 

Do  you  think  that  God  ever  helps  men  to  do  things 
that  they  have  not  first  conceived  in  ambitious  brains? 

God  is  looking  for  men  in  the  everyday  walks  of  life 
to  carry  out  His  purposes.  When  He  finds  such  men,  full 
of  ambitious  daring  and  willingness  to  trust,  because 
they  are  conscious  that  their  undertakings  are  in  line 
with  the  divine  will,  all  of  the  forces  and  laws  of  Heaven 
are  made  to  serve  them. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  THOUGHT  AND  DISCUSSION 

When  is  a  man  defeated? 

Romans  8:35-39;  I  Cor.  id:  13. 
What  were  the  underlying  principles  in  Jesus*  career? 
Is  it  possible  and  sensible  to  adopt  in  modern  business 
life  such  principles  as  the  Golden  Rule,  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  and  Jesus*  teaching  regarding  the  non-resis- 
tance of  evil? 
Isaiah  61:1;  Matthew  5:1-16;  Matthew  5:38-48; 
Matthew  18:21-22. 


42  IBible  Stu&^ 


Christ  said  to  his  disciples,  "  Greater  works  than  these 
shall  ye  do ;  because  I  go  unto  the  Father. "  Exactly  what 
does  this  mean  in  my  own  life-work?  Does  it  give  me  the 
right  to  believe  in  limitless  possibilities  in  my  vocation? 
If  so  under  what  conditions? 

Is  a  great  life-work  necessarily  great  in  the  public  eye? 
Luke  22:24-30;  Luke  16:10-12. 

What  do  the  Scriptures  teach  regarding  the  influence 
of  obstacles  as  a  factor  in  success? 

Lockhart  in  his  life  of  Scott  shows  how  the  author's 
life  was  divided  into  two  parts.  The  first  part  was  one 
of  prosperity:  a  Scottish  seigneur,  a  well-filled  table, 
prominent  persons  all  about  him,  a  place  and  position 
in  an  ambitious,  material  world — this  section  of  his  life 
was  interesting,  but,  he  confesses,  commonplace.  Then  a 
crash  and  disaster  came;  sorrow  and  loss  turned  the 
current  of  his  life..  We  behold  for  the  first  time  an 
enlarging,  an  indomitable  soul  in  the  making,  settling 
down  with  splendid  courage  to  an  almost  intolerable 
task,  writing  off  his  load  of  debt,  bearing  his  bereavement 
with  an  august  courage,  amidst  poor  health  and  every 
kind  of  obstacle,  taking  his  pen  when  he  might  under 
normal  conditions  have  laid  it  down,  and  fighting  with  it 
an  heroic  battle  for  victory  and  for  honor. 

A.  C.  Benson  referring  to  this  tragic  circumstance 
speaks  of  it  as  something  sent  by  God,  "to  give  a  great 
man  the  opportunity  to  live  in  a  way  that  could  furnish 
an  eternal  and  imperishable  example. " 

Psalm  23;  James  1:12;  Matthew  5:10-11. 
.  What  are  the  determining  principles  upon  which  a  man 
should  choose  his  life-work  ?    Advice  of  friends  ?    Natural 
inclination?     Environment?     Opportunity   for   service? 
Wealth?     Ambition? 

Proverbs  4:14-18;  Matthew  16:21-28. 

Emerson  said,  "  Do  your  thing  and  I  shall  know  you.  ** 


f  n  tbe  MorFi  ot  Xtte  43 

Do  you  believe  that  every  individual  has  a  particular 
mission  and  work  quite  distinct  from  every  other  human 
being?  What  is  the  influence  of  such  conviction  upon 
feelings  of  envy  towards  other  successful  men? 

What  is  the  secret  of  keeping  up  courage,  no  matter 
what  happens? 

Deut.  31: 6-8;  Romans  8: 31;  John  5: 17;  I  Cor.  10:13. 

Read  ninety-first  Psalm. 


IV 

The  Place  and  Use  of  Money 


45 


IV 

THE  PLACE  AND  USE  OF  MONEY 

What  is  a  man  profited  if  he  gain  the  whole  world 
and  lose  or  forfeit  his  own  self?  Luke  9:  25. 

Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches; 

Feed  me  with  the  food  that  is  needful  for  me: 

Lest  I  be  full  and  deny  thee,  and  say,  who  is  Jehovah? 

Or  lest  I  be  poor  and  steal. 

And  use  profanely  the  name  of  my  God. 

Proverbs  30:8-9. 

But  thou  shalt  remember  Jehovah  thy  God,  for  it  is 
he  that  giveth  thee  power  to  get  wealth. 

Deut.  8:18. 

And  Jesus  looked  round  about  and  saith  unto  his  dis- 
ciples, How  hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into 
the  Kingdom  of  God.  Mark  10:23. 

As  the  partridge  that  sitteth  on  eggs  which  she  hath 
not  laid,  so  is  he  that  getteth  riches,  and  not  by  right; 
in  the  midst  of  his  days  they  shall  leave  him,  and  at  his 
end  he  shall  be  a  fool.  Jer.  17:  11. 

Because  thou  sayest,  I  am  rich,  and  have  gotten  riches, 
and  have  need  of  nothing,  and  knowest  not  that  thou  art 
the  wretched  and  miserable  and  poor  and  blind  and 
naked: 

I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  refined  by  fire  that 
thou  mayest  become  rich ;  and  white  garments  that  thou 
mayest  clothe  thyself,  and  that  the  shame  of  thy  naked- 

47 


48  JStble  StuC)^ 


ness  be  not  made  manifest;  and  an  eye  salve  to  anoint 
thine  eyes  that  thou  mayest  see.  Rev.  3: 17-18. 

He  becometh  poor  that  worketh  with  a  slack  hand; 
But  the  hand  of  the  diligent  maketh  rich. 

Prov.  10:4. 
Be  ye  free  from  the  love  of  money;  content  with  such 
things  as  ye  have:  for  himself  hath  said,  I  will  in  no  wise 
fail  thee,  neither  will  I  in  any  wise  forsake  thee. 

Heb.  13:5. 
Weary  not  thyself  to  be  rich; 


For  riches  certainly  make  themselves  wings, 
Like  an  eagle  that  flieth  toward  heaven. 

Prov.  23:4-5. 
No  man  can  serve  two  masters;  for  either  he  will  hate 
the  one  and  love  the  other,  or  else  he  will  hold  to  the 
one  and  despise  the  other.    Ye  cannot  serve  God  and 
mammon.  Matt.  6:24. 

And  he  said  unto  them,  Take  heed,  and  keep  yourselves 
from  all  covetousness :  for  a  man's  life  consisteth  not  in 
the  abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth.  And  he 
spake  a  parable  unto  them  saying,  The  ground  of  a  certain 
rich  man  brought  forth  plentifully:  and  he  reasoned 
within  himself  saying.  What  shall  I  do  because  I  have  not 
where  to  bestow  my  fruits?  And  he  said,  This  will  I  do: 
I  will  pull  down  my  bams  and  build  greater;  and  there 
will  I  bestow  all  my  grain  and  my  goods.  And  I  will  say  to 
my  soul.  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many 
years.  Take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry.  But 
God  said  unto  him.  Thou  foolish  one,  this  night  is  thy 
soul  required  of  thee;  and  the  things  which  thou  hast 
prepared,  whose  shall  they  be?  So  is  he  that  layeth  up 
treasure  for  himself  and  is  not  rich  toward  God. 

Luke  12:15-21. 


f  n  tbe  Morft  ot  Xitc  49 

Charge  them  that  are  rich  in  this  present  worid  that 
they  be  not  high-minded,  nor  have  their  hope  set  on 
the  uncertainty  of  riches,  but  on  God,  who  giveth  us 
richly  all  things  to  enjoy;  that  they  do  good,  that  they  be 
rich  in  good  works,  that  they  be  ready  to  distribute, 
ready  to  sympathize ;  laying  up  in  store  for  themselves  a 
good  foundation  against  the  time  to  come,  that  they  may 
lay  hold  on  the  life  which  is  life  indeed. 

I  Tim.  6:17-19. 

And  he  that  was  sown  among  the  thorns,  this  is  he  that 
heareth  the  word;  and  the  care  of  the  world  and  the 
deceitfulness  of  riches,  choke  the  word,  and  he  becometh 
unfruitful.  Matt.  13:22. 

For  we  brought  nothing  into  the  world,  neither  can 
we  carry  anything  out;  but  having  food  and  covering  we 
shall  be  therewith  content. 

But  they  that  are  minded  to  be  rich  fall  into  a  tempta- 
tion and  a  snare  and  many  foolish  and  hurtful  lusts,  such 
as  drown  men  in  destruction  and  perdition. 

For  the  love  of  money  is  a  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil : 
which  some  reaching  after  have  been  led  astray  from  the 
faith,  and  have  pierced  themselves  through  with  many 
sorrows.  I  Tim.  6:7-11. 

Shall  a  man  make  unto  himself  gods,  which  yet  are 
no  gods?  Jer.  16:20. 

4   . 


50  JBible  Stubs 


WITNESS  OF  MEN 

It  is  probably  much  more  happiness  to  live  in  a  small 
house  and  have  Warwick  Castle  to  look  at,  than  to  live 
in  Warwick  Castle  and  have  nothing  to  be  astonished  at. 

RUSKIN. 

Among  all  the  idolatries  of  the  Israelites,  the  worship 
of  the  golden  calf  was  one  of  the  most  contemptible. 

Lord  Avebury. 

I  cannot  call  riches  better  than  the  baggage  of  virtue; 
the  Roman  word  is  better,  "impedimenta,"  for,  as  the 
baggage  is  to  an  army  so  is  riches  to  virtue ;  it  cannot  be 
spared  nor  left  behind,  but  it  hindereth  the  march;  yea, 
and  the  care  of  it  sometimes  loseth  or  disturbeth  the  vic- 
tory; of  great  riches  there  is  no  real  use,  except  it  be  in 
the  distribution;  the  rest  is  but  conceit.  Bacon. 

Amphion  remarked  in  the  market  of  Athens,  "How 
many  things  there  are  in  the  world  that  I  do  not  want!** 

A  man's  true  wealth  is  the  good  he  does  in  this  world. 
When  he  dies  men  will  ask,  "What  property  has  he  left 
behind  him?"  But  angels  will  inquire,  "What  good 
deeds  hast  thou  sent  before  thee?** 

Arabic  Proverb. 

Money  for  my  little  piece  of  work — to  the  extent  that 
it  will  allow  me  to  keep  working:  Yes,  this — unless  you 
mean  that  I  shall  go  my  ways  before  the  work  is  all  taken 
out  of  me ;  but  as  to  wages Carlyle. 

Thus  quoth  Alfred : 
Without  wisdom  is  weal  full  worthless; 
For  though  a  man  had  seventy  acres, 
And  had  sown  them  all  with  red  gold, 


Hn  the  Morft  ot  Xite  51 

And  the  gold  grew,  as  grass  does  on  the  earth, 
Yet  were  his  weal  naught  the  further, 
Except  he  of  the  stranger  maketh  a  friend. 
For  what  is  gold  but  stone  unless  a  wise  man  have  it? 

Tennyson. 

I  desire  money  because  I  think  I  know  the  use  of  it. 
It  commands  labor,  it  gives  leisure;  and  to  give  leisure 
to  those  who  will  employ  it  in  the  forwarding  of  truth  is 
the  holiest  present  an  individual  can  make  to  the  whole. 

Shelley. 

Sir,  if  any  other  comes  that  hath  better  iron  than  you, 
he  will  be  master  of  all  this  gold. 

Solon's  Answer  to  Crcesus. 

Around  this  temple  let  the  merchant's  law  be  just,  his 
weights  true,  and  his  covenants  faithful  (the  inscription 
on  the  Church  St.  Giacomo  de  Rialto  at  Venice) . 

The  spirit  of  Jesus  certainly  has  nothing  but  con- 
demnation for  that  great  wave  of  money  love  which  has 
swept  over  Christendom  in  our  time,  affecting  all  classes 
of  people.  It  has  fostered  self-indulgence,  brightened 
the  charm  of  luxury,  added  to  the  zest  of  fashion,  re- 
inforced the  impulse  to  gambling,  stimulated  depraved 
appetites,  corrupted  business  and  politics,  brought  in 
new  varieties  of  crime,  oppressed  the  poor,  deepened  the 
bondage  of  excessive  labor,  increased  the  alienation  of 
social  classes,  materialized  the  popular  ideals,  weakened 
religious  influences,  and  made  heavenly  things  seem  far 
away.  From  this  craze  of  the  love  of  money  the  voice 
of  Jesus  calls  the  people  back  to  sane  life  in  ethics  and 
religion  in  which  he  is  leader. 

Clarke  in  The  Ideal  of  Jesus, 


52  Bible  Stu^l^ 


THE  PLACE  AND  USE  OF  MONEY 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  consider  Jesus'  teaching  as  a 
mild  form  of  socialism  or  communism.  He  constantly 
associated  with  the  rich  people  of  his  time  and  he  laid 
particular  stress  upon  the  necessity  of  every  individual's 
utilizing  his  every  talent  in  being  diligent  and  industrious. 
In  the  parable  of  the  talents  he  justifies  the  increase  of 
wealth,  rebukes  laziness,  and  commends  the  wise,  practi- 
cal use  of  time  and  money. 

At  the  same  time  he  was  a  friend  to  the  poor  and  his 
ministry  is  written  largely  in  the  atmosphere  of  humble 
folk,  quoting  the  words  of  the  Prophet,  "He  hath  an- 
ointed me  to  preach  glad  tidings  unto  the  poor. "  The  Gos- 
pel of  Luke  is  sometimes  called  the  Gospel  of  the  poor, 
and  it  is  full  of  cheer  and  comfort  for  their  encourage- 
ment, often  mingled  with  warnings  to  the  rich.  Never- 
theless the  teachings  of  Jesus  were  not  aimed  at  riches, 
but  at  individuals.  He  did  not  commend  or  condemn 
money  as  possessing  a  moral  quality;  he  considered  it 
only  in  its  effect  upon  individual  success.  When  he  said, 
"It  is  hard  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven, "  he  was  counselling,  not  so  much  against  wealth, 
as  against  the  temper  and  attitude  of  mind  which  wealth 
encourages. 

By  his  teaching  and  his  life  he  emphasized  the  fact 
that  there  were  greater  things  to  live  for  than  money,  and 
he  divined  the  truth  that  the  man  who  set  his  heart  on 
wealth  had  constructed  for  himself  an  almost  insur- 
mountable barrier  between  himself  and  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,  whose  chief  satisfactions  are  not  in  terms  of 
things,  but  in  terms  of  spirit.  To  the  foolish  rich  man 
who  settles  down  in  the  satisfaction  of  having  enough  for 
many  years,  and  counts  only  upon  enjojring  it  in  self-indul- 
gence, he  says,  "Thou  foolish  one,  this  night  is  thy  soul 


fin  tbe  Morft  of  %itc  53 

required  of  thee" — now,  where  are  his  riches?  They  go 
to  another.  They  are  valueless  before  that  summons  the 
time  of  whose  coming  no  man  knoweth.  The  trouble  is, 
said  Jesus,  that  such  men  have  been  laying  up  treasure 
just  for  themselves  and  are  not  rich  toward  God.  Wealth 
has  no  clarion  voice,  no  call  to  social  responsibilities,  no 
real  meaning.  The  Master  thus  turns  upon  selfish 
wealth  and  indifference  to  humanity  and  the  thoughtless 
self-indulgent  rich  of  all  ages  and  times  the  light  of  his 
clear  perspective,  saying,  "Your  whole  attitude  of  mind 
is  wrong  and  your  failure  is  as  sure  as  death."  He 
throws  upon  the  subject  the  lurid  light  of  consequences. 
That  is  his  meaning  in  the  parable  of  Dives  and  Lazarus; 
the  consequences  that  surely  flow  from  selfish  luxury  and 
self -centered  striving  are  the  things  that  are  not  meat,  the 
things  that  do  not  satisfy  the  soul. 

Jesus  never  says  that  wealth  is  wrong,  intrinsically 
wrong,  but  he  raises  the  danger  signal,  saying,  in  brief, 
that  the  effort  after  money  and  great  possessions  in- 
evitably lays  in  a  man's  path  a  terrific  opportunity  to 
grow  careless  of  his  brother's  need;  it  furnishes  an  arch 
temptation  to  put  second  things  first  in  the  general  con- 
duct of  a  career.  The  fixing  of  the  attention  upon 
money,  he  teaches,  produces  an  ambition  centered  upon 
things  that  are  impermanent,  and  when  these  things  have 
captured  a  man's  life  they  determine  the  trend  of  that 
life  and  the  spirit  of  all  his  endeavor.  As  he  showed  by 
his  conversation  with  the  rich  young  ruler,  to  give  up  the 
worship  of  mere  possessions  means  something  more  than 
turning  over  money  to  the  poor,  it  means  the  giving  up 
or  the  changing  of  the  central,  regulating  temper  and 
disposition  of  the  individual.  This  surrender  or  this 
change  makes  the  man  who  is  the  servant  of  Mammon  the 
servant  of  God,  and  money  then  falls  into  natural  rela- 
tionship with  the  larger  outlook.    Without  equivocation 


54  :Btble  Stubp 


the  Master  teaches  in  the  gospels  that  it  is  impossible 
to  hold  these  two  ideals  of  God  and  money  in  equal 
balance.  One  or  the  other  must  rule  the  life.  Inso- 
much as  life  is  more  than  meat  and  the  body  more  than 
raiment  he  would  say  to  the  man  of  modem  affairs, 
"Seek  ye  first  his  Kingdom  and  his  righteousness,  and 
all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you. " 

The  teachings  of  the  Bible,  therefore,  are  plainly  to- 
ward the  right  use  of  wealth,  the  right  attitude  toward 
money,  rather  than  toward  any  sweeping  abolition  of  it. 
He  praised  highly  the  widow  who  cast  into  the  treasury 
to  the  point  of  self-sacrifice,  and  he  also  had  no  rebuke 
for  that  generous,  extravagant  act  of  the  woman  at 
Bethany  who  broke  over  his  feet  a  costly  box  of  ointment 
in  the  impulsive  exuberance  of  devoted  love.  As  he 
prophesied,  this  act,  the  only  one  we  know  concerning 
her,  has  immortalized  her.  "A  beautiful  generosity 
that  counted  nothing  too  fine  to  be  used  for  the  heart's 
satisfaction."  Better  too  much  generosity  than  too 
much  careful  calculation  of  loving  giving — better  give 
too  much  than  niggardly  to  withhold  when  the  heart 
speaks.  He  would  teach  that  the  giving  of  self  and- 
money  opens  the  heart,  that  hoarding  or  selfish  use  of 
wealth  shut  up  the  heart,  and,  out  of  the  abundance  of 
the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh. 

At  bottom  the  Scriptural  question  is,  "What  is  money 
for?"  Does  it  keep  you  from  the  great  purpose  of  help- 
ing to  build  up  on  earth  the  brotherly  Kingdom  of  God? 
If  so,  it  is  a  millstone  to  drag  you  down  from  your  possible 
high  ideals.  Happiness,  success,  character,  earthly  and 
eternal  blessedness  hinge  upon  a  right  will,  a  will 
right  toward  God,  right  toward  self,  and  right  toward 
humanity.  The  enemy  of  that  "right  will,"  that 
"fixed  design  toward  righteousness,"  whether  it  is 
money,    pleasure,    ambition,    laziness,    or    lust — that 


Hn  tbe  Morft  ot  Xtte  55 

enemy  is  man's  deadliest  foe;  man's  only  chance  is  in  its 
annihilation. 

"  And  if  thy  right  eye  causeth  thee  to  stumble,  pluck 
it  out  and  cast  it  from  thee:  for  it  is  profitable  for  thee 
that  one  of  thy  members  should  perish,  and  not  thy 
whole  body  be  cast  into  hell"  (Matt.  5:29). 

And  the  hell  referred  to  is  not  to  come  in  another 
worid — it  is  right  here — the  hell  of  being  enslaved  by  an 
ideal  that  is  lower  than  the  highest — the  loss  in  life  and 
career  of  the  really  great  satisfactions. 

The  Bible  enjoins  "lay  not  up  for  yoiirselves  treasures 
upon  earth."  But,  says  one,  how  practical  is  all  this? 
I  live  in  a  period  of  high  cost  of  living,  a  period  of  material 
necessities  that  men  did  not  know  in  Jesus'  time,  when 
Eastern  customs  of  dress  and  housing  and  eating  made 
economic  conditions  simple.  I  mtcst  think  of  money,  and 
think  of  it  hard  and  constantly.  I  have  a  family  to 
support,  children  to  educate,  a  respectable  position  in 
the  community  to  maintain — then  I  need  books  and 
opportunity  to  travel,  and  friends  and  a  place  to  recreate 
in  the  summer — my  inevitable  desires  grow  with  my 
income — my  responsibilities  give  me  no  choice  but  to 
work  for  money. 

Against  the  legitimacy  of  all  this  reasonable  effort  to 
fulfill  one's  duty  towards  oneself  and  those  dependent 
upon  him,  Christ  uttered  no  forbidding  word,  and  none 
but  the  individual  can  decide  just  when  the  sufficiency  of 
toil  for  bread  should  make  way  for  time  and  opportunity 
to  feed  the  spiritual  life,  for  such  arrangement  of  life's 
daily  duties  as  to  give  opportunity  to  see  life  steadily  and 
to  see  it  whole,  to  get  one's  work  in  the  right  perspective. 

But  the  task  for  which  earth  and  heaven  hold  every 
man  in  sublime  responsibility,  is  to  make  siu-e  that, 
through  all  of  his  getting  and  spending,  there  runs  the 
increasing  purpose  of  God.     In  the  last  and  in  all  true 


56  Bible  Stut>i^ 


analysis,  the  Kfe  is  more  than  the  meat  and  the  body 
than  the  raiment.  Let  a  man  spend  a  half  hour  each 
day  thinking,  "Am  I  converting  wealth  into  a  friend  of 
my  higher  resources?"  Let  him  take  the  Bible  passages 
of  this  study  and  lay  them  alongside  of  his  personal  Hfe 
plans.  Let  him  not  trick  himself  into  ease  of  conscience 
by  the  specious  excuse  of  immediate  necessity,  or  by  the 
poptdar  proverb,  "A  man  must  live." 

"A  man  must  live.     We  justify 
Low  shift  and  trick  to  treason  high, 
A  little  vote  for  a  little  gold, 
To  a  little  senate  bought  and  sold. 
By  this  self-evident  reply. 

A  man  must  live.     Pray  tell  me  why 
Life  at  such  cost  you  have  to  buy? 
In  what  religion  were  you  told 

A  man  must  live? 


There  is  a  time  when  a  man  must  die — 
Imagine  for  a  battle-cry 
For  soldiers  with  the  flag  unrolled, 
For  soldiers  with  a  sword  to  hold. 
This  coward's  whine,  this  Har's  lie, 

A  man  must  live!" 


irn  tbe  Morft  ot  Xitc  57 

QUESTIONS  FOR  THOUGHT  AND  DISCUSSION 

Solomon  is  said  to  be  the  richest  man  that  lived. 
What  was  his  estimate  of  money? 

Proverbs  30:8-9;  23:4;  22: 16;  23:5;  11:28;  Eccl. 
5: 10-20;  Proverbs  22:1. 

Do  you  think  that  Jesus  could  have  succeeded  better 
if  he  had  been  rich? 

What  did  he  teach  was  the  real  danger  in  regard  to 
money? 

Mark  10:23-26;  Matt.  13:22;  19:  21-25;  I  Tim. 
6:9-10;  James  2: 1-7;  5: 1-7. 

Are  philanthropy  and  charity  plainly  taught  in  the 
Bible? 

I  Tim.  6:17-19;  Matt.  19:21;  I  John  3:17;  II 
Cor.  9:  7;  Prov.  14:21,  31. 

Is  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan  appropriate  in 
view  of  modern  philanthropy?  Luke  10:  33. 

What  was  the  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament  concern- 
ing the  oppression  of  the  poor  by  the  rich? 

II  Samuel  12:1-6;  Prov.  22:16-17;  Ezekiel  22: 
29-31 ;  Prov.  22 :  22-23 ;  Psalm  62 :  10. 

Do  you  think  that  organized  charities  in  our  large 
cities  are  in  line  with  the  teaching  of  the  Bible? 

Is  promiscuous  charity  commendable? 

Is  there  any  truth  in  the  feeling  sometimes  experienced 
that  organized  charity  takes  away  the  real  value  derived 
from  personal  giving  to  a  personal  object? 

What  did  Paul  teach  concerning  private  ownership  of 
wealth?  I  Tim.  6: 18. 

Do  you  think  that  a  man  can  atone  for  "tainted 
money"  by  giving  it  to  charity? 


58        JBible  Stut)^  in  tbe  TimorF;  ot  Xife 

Is  tithe-giving  taught  in  the  Bible  as  necessary? 
Is  it  incumbent  on  Christians  to-day? 
Deut.  14: 22-29;  Matt.  23 :  23  (c/.  I  Cor.  16: 2). 

Can  you  find  in  the  spirit  or  the  letter  of  Jesus*  teach- 
ing any  commands  that  would  lead  one  to  believe  it  was 
not  right  to  own  property? 

Can  you  find  teachings  that  would  suggest  the  duty 
as  well  as  the  privilege  of  owning  property? 

What  was  the  New  Testament  idea  of  stewardship? 
Luke  16: 1-14;  Luke  12: 42-48;  I  Tim.  6: 17-19. 

Dr.  Theodore  Vetter,  rector  of  the  University  of 
Zurich,  told  me  that  the  very  wealthy  men  of  Switzer- 
land were  not  as  a  rule  influential.  In  fact  that  becoming 
a  millionaire  was  not  a  common  ideal  among  the  Swiss; 
that  the  man  who  was  simply  rich  and  did  not  take  a 
patriotic  or  an  unselfish  interest  in  the  welfare  of  society 
was  little  respected. 

Do  you  think  that  the  tendency  in  America  of  judging 
men  by  the  money  they  possess  is  increasing  or  decreas- 
ing? 

Read  Luke  16;  Proverbs  8: 13-22;  Ecclesiastes  5; 
Psalm  112;  Matthew  6: 19-33. 


Education  in  Religion 


59 


I 


EDUCATION  IN  RELIGION 

The  fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom. 

Job  28:28. 

For  wisdom  is  better  than  rubies;  and  all  the  things 
that  may  be  desired  are  not  to  be  compared  unto  it. 

Proverbs  8:  II. 

And  he  said  unto  him,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all 
thy  mind.  Matt.  22 :  37. 

He  giveth  wisdom  unto  the  wise  and  knowledge  to 
them  that  have  understanding.  Daniel  2:21. 

In  that  night  did  God  appear  unto  Solomon,  and  said 
unto  him.  Ask  what  I  shall  give  thee.  And  Solomon 
said  unto  God,  Thou  hast  showed  great  loving-kindness 
unto  David  my  father  and  hast  made  me  king  in  his 
stead.  Now,  0  Jehovah  God,  let  thy  promise  unto 
David  my  father  be  established ;  for  thou  hast  made  me 
king  over  a  people  like  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  multitude. 
Give  me  now  wisdom  and  knowledge  that  I  may  go  out 
and  come  in  before  this  people;  for  who  can  judge  this 
thy  people  that  is  so  great?  And  God  said  to  Solomon, 
Because  this  was  in  thy  heart  and  thou  hast  not  asked 
riches,  wealth  or  honor,  nor  the  life  of  them  that  hate 
thee,  neither  yet  hast  asked  long  life;  but  hast  asked 
wisdom  and  knowledge  for  thyself  that  thou  mayest 

61 


62  JSible  Stu^s 


judge  my  people  over  whom  I  have  made  thee  king: 
Wisdom  and  knowledge  is  granted  unto  thee ;  and  I  will 
give  thee  riches,  and  wealth  and  honor,  such  as  none  of 
the  kings  have  had  that  have  been  before  thee;  neither 
shall  there  any  after  thee  have  the  like. 

II  Chronicles  i  :  7-12. 

But  if  any  of  you  lacketh  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God, 
who  giveth  to  all  liberally  and  upbraideth  not;  and  it 
shall  be  given  him.  James  i  ;  5. 

Through  wisdom  is  a  house  builded; 
And  by  understanding  it  is  established ; 
And  by  knowledge  are  the  chambers  filled 
With  all  precious  and  pleasant  riches. 
A  wise  man  is  strong. 
Yea,  a  man  of  knowledge  increaseth  might. 

Proverbs  24:3-5. 

How  much  better  is  it  to  get  wisdom  than  gold. 
Yea,  to  get  understanding  is  rather  to  be  chosen  than 
silver.  Proverbs  16: 16. 

Thus  saith  Jehovah,  Let  not  the  wise  man  glory  in  his 
wisdom,  neither  let  the  mighty  man  glory  in  his  might, 
let  not  the  rich  man  glory  in  his  riches:  but  let  him  that 
glorieth  glory  in  this,  that  he  hath  understanding,  and 
knoweth  me,  that  I  am  Jehovah  who  exerciseth  loving- 
kindness,  justice,  and  righteousness  in  the  earth :  for  in 
these  things  I  delight,  saith  Jehovah. 

Jeremiah  9: 23-24. 


fn  tbe  TOlorft  of  %iU  63 

WITNESS  OF  MEN 

What  is  true  knowledge?    Is  it  with  keen  eye 

Of  lucre's  sons  to  thread  the  mazy  way? 

Is  it  of  civil  rights,  and  royal  sway, 
And  wealth  political,  the  depth  to  try? 
Is  it  to  delve  the  earth,  to  soar  the  sky? 

To  marshal  nations,  tribes  in  just  array ; 

To  mix  and  analyze,  and  mete,  and  weigh 
Her  elements,  and  all  her  powers  descry? 
These  things,  who  will  may  know  them,  if  to  know 

Breed  not  vain  glory;  but,  o'er  all,  to  scan 
God  in  his  works  and  word  shown  forth  below. 

Creation's  wonders  and  Redemption's  plan; 
Whence  came  we,  what  to  do,  and  whither  go; 

This  is  true  knowledge,  and  the  whole  of  man. 

Bishop  Mant. 

The  real  use  of  all  knowledge  is  this,  that  it  should 
dedicate  that  reason  which  was  given  us  by  God  for  the 
purpose  and  advantage  of  man.  Bacon. 

The  world  is  foimded  on  thoughts  and  ideas,  not  on 
cotton  and  iron.  Emerson. 

If  a  man  empties  his  purse  into  his  head,  no  man  can 
take  it  away  from  him.  An  investment  in  knowledge 
always  pays  the  best.  Franklin. 

Let  knowledge  grow  from  more  to  more, 
But  more  of  reverence  in  us  dwell; 
That  mind  and  soul  according  well, 
May  make  one  music  as  before,  but  vaster. 

In  Memoriam. 

Is  it  not  time  that  we  stop  asking  indulgence  for  learning 
and  proclaim  its  sovereignty?  Is  it  not  time  that  we  re- 
mind the  college  men  of  this  country  that  they  have  no  right 


64  JStble  Stut)^ 


to  any  distinctive  place  in  any  community  unless  they  can 
show  it  by  intellectual  achievement  ?  Th  at  if  a  university 
is  a  place  for  distinction  at  all,  it  must  be  distinguished 
by  conquest  of  mind.  Woodrow  Wilson. 

"Nothing  after  health  and  virtue,"  says  Goethe,  "can 
give  as  much  satisfaction  as  learning  and  knowing." 

The  value  of  all  true  education  is  in  giving  a  man  the 
ability  to  do  the  thing  he  ought  to  do  when  it  ought 
to  be  done,  regardless  of  whether  he  feels  like  doing 
it  or  not.  Huxley. 

It  is  our  endeavor  to  create  a  high  potential  of  mental 
possibility  rather  than  actual  attainment. 

Pres.  John  D.  Hibben  of  Princeton. 

Because  you  do  profess  to  teach,  and  teach  us  nothing. 
Feeding  not  the  heart. 

Tennyson's  indictment  of  English  Schoolmasters. 

My  purse  is  empty:  it  can  be  filled  again;  the  Jew 
Rothschild  could  fill  it;  or  I  can  live  with  it  very,  very 
far  from  full.  But,  Gracious  Heavens!  What  is  to  be 
done  with  my  empty  head? 

Carlyle,  Letter  to  Henry  Inglis. 

Education  ought  to  banish  dullness,  which  is  one  of 
the  great  dangers  of  life.  Lord  Avebury. 

Up!     Tis  no  dreaming-time.     Awake!    Awake! 
For  He  who  sits  on  the  high  Judge's  seat. 
Doth  in  His  record  mark  each  wasted  hour, 
Each  idle  word.     Take  heed  thy  shrinking  soul 
Find  not  their  weight  too  heavy,  when  it  stands 
At  that  dread  bar  from  whence  is  no  appeal. 
Lo,  while  ye  trifle,  the  light  sand  steals  on, 
Leaving  the  hour-glass  empty,  and  thy  life 
Glideth  away; — stamp  wisdom  on  its  hours. 

Mrs.    SiGOURNEY. 


I 


•ffn  tbe  Morft  ot  Xtfe  65 

EDUCATION  IN  RELIGION 

Education,  according  to  the  Bible  has  three  purposes: 

First.     For  Knowledge. 

The  acquaintance  with  facts,  information. 

Second.     For  Wisdom. 

The  understanding  of  the  relationships  of  knowledge. 

Third.     For  Conduct. 
The  application  of  knowledge  to  life  through  experi- 
ence. 

Education  for  Knowledge. — In  the  Old  Testament 
we  read: 

For  Jehovah  is  a  God  of  knowledge 
And  by  knowledge  are  the  chambers  filled, 
and  Jesus  says : 

"Ye  shall  know  the  Truth  and  the  Truth  shall  make 
you  free. " 

Knowledge  is  the  scientific  basis  upon  which  we  build 
our  opinion  and  our  conduct;  it  is  the  working  material 
of  life  in  general.  ICnowledge  is  always  associated  with 
power  as  ignorance  is  synonymous  with  weakness. 
"Knowledge  increaseth  might,  '*  says  Solomon.  Knowl- 
edge, to  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans,  was  identified 
with  virtue,  courage — "virtus" — ^and,  not  only  in  the 
philosophy  of  the  Greeks,  but  in  Hindu  religions,  knowl- 
edge, perfect  knowledge,  is  the  final  goal  of  perfection. 
While  it  is  true  that  a  little  knowledge  is  a  dangerous 
thing,  and  certain  of  the  worst  criminals  and  enemies  of 
society  have  been  talented  men,  the  general  rule  that 
connects  ignorance  with  crime  and  sin  holds  historically, 
as  in  practical,  modem  life. 

Knowledge  comes  in  various  ways  and  is  open  to  all. 
Literature,  travel,  conversation,  study,  experience,  hard 
work,  are  all  teachers  of  knowledge.  "I  am  a  part  of  all 
that  I  have  seen,"  says  Tennyson.    We  learn  through 


66  JBible  Stubs 


the  senses,  through  the  intellect,  through  the  heart,  and 
through  the  spirit  and  the  imagination.  Other  things 
being  equal,  the  truly  successful  man  is  the  man  who 
knows  most  about  all  subjects  of  knowledge;  Taine 
defined  education  as  general  knowledge.  We  sometimes 
say  our  educated  man  is  one  who  knows  something  about 
everything,  and  everything  about  something.  The 
wonder  and  surprise  created  by  Jesus  were  in  no  small  way 
due  to  his  knowledge.  He  knew  what  was  in  man,  we 
are  told  in  the  Gospel,  and  needed  not  that  any  man 
should  tell  him.  "How  knoweth  this  man  letters  having 
never  learned!"  was  the  amazed  and  impressed  exclama- 
tion of  the  Pharisees,  while  his  enemies  in  despairful 
confusion  cried,  "Never  man  so  spake." 

There  is  something  solid,  certain,  and  convincing  about 
real  knowledge.  It  gives  assurance  and  dignity,  and  its 
possession  is  an  earnest  of  all  kinds  of  possibilities. 
Failure  in  business  is  often  epitomized  as  inadequate 
knowledge,  false  judgment,  the  mistakes  due  to  ill- 
considered  or  thoughtless  action,  while  the  business  man 
who  has  gained  thorough  acquaintance  of  the  field  of  his 
endeavor,  who  has  thought  through  his  own  relationship 
to  that  field,  is  girded  with  a  peculiar  strength. 

The  pursuit  and  acquirement  of  knowledge  is  the 
highest  ambition  of  the  scientist  whose  eternal  question 
is,  "What  are  the  facts?"  The  relationships  of  knowl- 
edge form  the  fundamental  ambitions  of  the  philosopher. 
The  great  German  metaphysician,  Immanuel  Kant, 
spent  the  major  portion  of  his  life  writing  his  three 
"Critiques  of  Pure  Reason,"  and  these  views  of  philo- 
sophic knowledge  have  been  the  chief  basis  of  mod- 
em European  metaphysics.  Three  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  youths  in  the  higher  institutions  of  learning  in 
America  are  spending  four  years  each,  and  a  total  of  not 
less  than  half  a  billion  dollars  each  year  in  seeking 


In  tbe  Motft  ot  Xite  67 

knowledge,  while  in  the  lower  grades  four  hundred 
thousand  preparatory  and  high  school  boys,  and  mul- 
titudes of  children  in  the  grammar  schools  are  living 
testimonials  of  the  universal  consensus  of  opinion  con- 
cerning the  indispensable  values  of  knowledge  to  equip 
for  success.  The  United  States  spends  yearly  millions 
of  dollars  upon  her  schools,  and  the  fundamental  question 
of  all  American  life,  centers  at  present  upon  the  query, 
"What  kind  of  education  for  our  youth?" 

Religious  Knowledge. — The  chief  and  most  import- 
ant knowledge  furthermore  is  religious  knowledge,  the 
knowledge  of  God.  In  his  essay  on  Goethe,  Carlyle 
refers  to  "That  religious  wisdom  .  .  .  which  in  thcvse 
hard,  unbelieving,  utilitarian  days  reveals  to  us  glimpses 
of  the  unseen  but  not  unreal  world  that,  so,  the  actual 
and  the  ideal  may  again  meet  together,  and  clear  knowl- 
edge be  again  wedded  to  religion  in  the  life  and  business 
of  men. " 

The  well-known  Church  Catechism  begins  with  the 
words,  "What  is  the  chief  end  of  man?"  and  the  answer 
follows,  "To  know  God  and  to  enjoy  him  forever." 
The  fear  of  Jehovah,  we  are  told  in  the  Proverbs,  is  the 
beginning  of  knowledge. 

The  immortal  literature  of  the  world  is  religious  litera- 
ttu'e.  The  Bible  which  is  sold  each  year  a  hundred  times 
more  extensively  than  any  other  book,  the  Koran  which 
is  the  one  book  of  223,000,000  of  the  earth's  inhabi- 
tants, Milton's  Paradise  Lost  and  Paradise  Regained^ 
the  greatest  imaginative  picture  of  immortality  extant, 
Shakespeare's  Hamlet,  which  turns  on  the  eternal  destiny 
of  man.  Browning's  Saul,  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress,  Dante's 
Inferno,  Goethe's  Faust,  the  greatest  literary  masterpiece 
upon  the  conflict  between  good  and  evil,  and  practically 
every   immortal    thing   that    Emerson   or    Carlyle    or 


68  JSible  Stu&y 


Tennyson  or  Plato  ever  wrote — all  hang  upon  the  divine 
and  human  relationships,  all  are  the  literature  of  religion. 
Where  do  we  look  for  the  world's  masterpieces  in  art 
but  in  the  galleries  where  hang  the  works  of  the  old 
masters,  where  Titian  and  Angelo  and  Rafael  and 
Rubens  and  da  Vinci  have  expended  their  life  genius 
under  the  inspiration  of  religion,  depicting  the  story  of 
Biblical  Christianity?  Can  we  think  of  any  architecture 
which  surpasses  in  sublimity,  in  magnificence,  or  in 
power  of  impressiveness  the  cathedrals  of  St.  Peter, 
Milan,  Cologne,  of  Notre  Dame,  of  St.  Paul  or  Salisbury? 
What  wars  have  been  fiercer  or  have  left  deeper  marks 
upon  the  world's  history  than  religious  wars?  While  he 
who  would  read  the  biography  of  statesmanship  or 
reform. will  scarcely  pass  by  Mohammed  or  Luther, 
John  Knox,  Lincoln,  Charlemagne,  Gladstone,  Savon- 
arola, Livingstone,  Tolstoy,  or  Chinese  Gordon,  and  in 
lonely  spiritual  isolation,  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth;  these 
names  are  all  written  ineffaceably  upon  the  religious 
hearts  of  men.  In  a  survey  of  the  world's  fields  of 
knowledge,  this  intangible  spirit  is  all-pervasive  and  we 
may  say  convincingly  with  the  Psalmist : 

"Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit? 
Or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence? 
If  I  ascend  up  into  Heaven  thou  art  there ; 
If  I  make  my  bed  in  Sheol,  behold  thou  art  there. 
If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning, 
And  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea, 
Even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me, 
And  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me." 


•ffn  tbe  XPHorft  ot  %itc  69 

QUESTIONS  FOR  THOUGHT  AND  DISCUSSION 

Taine  defined  an  educated  man  as  one  possessed  of 
general  ideas.  Does  American  education  produce  such 
men?  Does  it  equip  youth  with  religious  knowledge, 
for  example?  Is  it  feasible  to  incorporate  books  of 
religious  knowledge  in  the  public  schools? 

In  Isaiah  47:10  we  read,  "Thy  knowledge  and  thy 
wisdom  it  hath  perverted  thee,  and  thou  hast  said  in  thy 
heart,  I  am,  and  there  is  none  else  besides  me."  What 
is  the  result  of  such  knowledge,  the  knowledge  that 
"puffethup"? 

I  Cor.  8:1-4;  Isaiah  47: 11;  Rom.  1:28. 

Archimedes  said  that  if  he  had  a  lever  long  enough  and 
a  fixed  point  to  rest  it  on,  he  could  move  the  world. 
Does  education  succeed  in  finding  this  fixed  point  for 
the  business  man,  the  professional  man,  the  teacher? 

Do  sin  and  failure  come  from  wrong  education, 
wrong  thinking,  as  much  as  from  environment  ?  What 
kind  of  education  is  necessary  to  form  rightly  a  man's 
thinking? 

Cowper  describes  the  difference  between  knowledge 
and  wisdom  in  the  following  verse : 

"Knowledge  and  wisdom,  far  from  being  one, 
Have  ofttimes  no  connection:  knowledge  dwells 
In  heads  replete  with  thoughts  of  other  men; 
Wisdom  in  minds  attentive  to  their  own. 
Knowledge,  a  rude  unprofitable  mass. 
The  mere  materials  with  which  wisdom  builds, 
Till  smoothed  and  squared,  and  fitted  to  its  place, 
Does  but  encumber  whom  it  seems  t'  enrich. 
Knowledge  is  proud  that  he  has  learned  so  much, 
Wisdom  is  humble  that  he  has  learned  no  more." 


70  3Bible  Stu&5 


Does  this  agree  with  the  Biblical  definition  of  knowl- 
edge and  wisdom? 

Professor  Phelps  at  Yale  strongly  advocates  that  every 
student  entering  the  University  should  be  examined 
in  his  knowledge  of  the  Bible  in  order  to  secure  the 
equipment  of  the  young  man  in  English  literature.  Do 
you  consider  the  literary  value  of  the  Bible  an  indispens- 
able adjunct  to  education? 

Mr.  Ruskin  said  to  the  students  at  Oxford . 

"  Read  your  Bible,  making  it  the  first  morning  business 
of  your  life  to  understand  some  portion  of  it  clearly,  and 
your  daily  business  to  obey  it  in  all  that  you  do  under- 
stand. To  my  early  knowledge  of  the  Bible  I  owe  the 
best  part  of  my  taste  in  literature,  and  the  most  precious 
and,  on  the  whole,  the  most  essential  part  of  my 
education.  II  Tim.  3:  14-17. 

Considerable  discussion  in  educational  circles  has  been 
brought  about  by  the  Amherst  alumni  who  have  ad- 
vocated the  dropping  of  the  Bachelor  of  Science  degree 
at  Amherst  College  and  devoting  the  entire  attention  to 
classical  or  literary  training.  Do  you  think  that  a  college 
has  its  use  in  America  which  during  its  four  years'  course 
gives  no  attention  to  the  training  of  a  student  for  a  prac- 
tical vocation?  Is  a  young  man  justified  in  spending  four 
years  in  securing  a  general  education?  Would  you  say 
that  the  chief  value  of  education  is  to  teach  men  to  think? 

I  have  asked  many  German  educators  the  question, 
"What  is  the  object  of  education?"  The  usual  answer 
is,  first,  '*To  fit  men  for  service  to  the  State."  This 
ideal  has  not  been  prominent  in  American  education. 
Should  it  be? 

A  certain  public  man  has  a  practice  of  reading  news- 
papers standing — lest  he  spend  too  much  time  over  them. 
Whither  is  American  journalism  tending?     Is  the  policy 


1[n  tbc  Morft  ot  Xlte  71 

of  the  average  newspaper  to  print  only  cmrent  ''news'* 
justifiable?  Has  journalism  a  mission,  or  is  it  merely  to 
print  what  the  people  want? 

Certain  religious  periodicals  print  no  news  of  disas- 
ters, scandal,  or  sensational  proceedings.  Do  you  think 
it  possible  for  newspapers  generally  to  succeed  with 
such  a  policy? 

What  does  the  Bible  teach  concerning  the  possession  of 
zeal  and  enthusiasm  without  knowledge? 

Rom.  10:2-3. 

Is  not  true  education  dependent  upon  the  personality 
of  the  teacher?    Tennyson  said  of  Arthur  Hallam: 

And  thou  art  worthy;  full  of  power; 
As  gentle;  liberal-minded,  great, 
Consistent;  wearing  all  that  weight 

Of  learning  lightly  like  a  flower. 

How  do  you  account  for  the  wisdom  and  insight  of 
certain  humble  folk  who  have  never  had  the  advantage  of 
education  in  the  schools? 

Is  not  self -education  dependent  upon  religious  educa- 
tion? 

Rom.  11:33;  Matt.  11:25;  I  Cor.  12:8;  John  7:17; 
I  John  2 :  20 ;  I  Cor.  2 :  10-13. 

Read  Proverbs  3. 


VI 

Is  Prayer  Essential  for  Success? 


73 


VI 
IS  PRAYER  ESSENTIAL  FOR  SUCCESS? 


Belief. — Then  came  the  disciples  of  Jesus  apart  and 
said,  Why  could  not  we  cast  it  out  ?  and  he  saith  unto 
them,  Because  of  your  little  faith :  for  verily  I  say  unto 
you  if  ye  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  ye  shall 
say  unto  this  mountain,  Remove  hence  to  yonder  place ; 
and  it  shall  remove;  and  nothing  shall  be  impossible 
unto  you.  Matt.  17:1 9-2 1 . 

But  if  any  of  you  lacketh  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God, 
who  giveth  to  all  liberally  and  upbraideth  not;  and  it 
shall  be  given  him.  But  let  him  ask  in  faith,  nothing 
doubting:  for  he  that  doubteth  is  like  the  surge  of  the 
sea  driven  by  the  wind  and  tossed.  For  let  not  that 
man  think  that  he  shall  receive  anything  of  the  Lord;  a 
double-minded  man,  unstable  in  all  his  ways. 

James  1:5-8. 

Importunity. — And  he  said  unto  them,  Which  of  you 
shall  have  a  friend,  and  shall  go  unto  him  at  midnight, 
and  say  to  him,  Friend,  lend  me  three  loaves;  for  a 
friend  of  mine  is  come  to  me  from  a  journey,  and  I  have 
nothing  to  set  before  him;  and  he  from  within  shall 
answer  and  say.  Trouble  me  not ;  the  door  is  now  shut 
and  my  children  are  with  me  in  bed;  I  cannot  rise 
and  give  thee?     I  say  unto  you,  though  he  will  not 

75 


76  JStblc  Stu&s 


rise  and  give  him  because  he  is  his  friend,  yet  because  of 
his  importunity  he  will  arise  and  give  him  as  many  as  he 
needeth ;  and  I  say  unto  you,  Ask  and  it  shall  be  given 
you;  seek  and  ye  shall  find;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened 
unto  you.  For  everyone  that  asketh  receiveth;  and  he 
that  seeketh  findeth;  and  to  him  that  knocketh  it  shall 
be  opened.  Luke  11:5-10. 

Work. — Not  everyone  that  saith  imto  me,  Lord, 
Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  but  he 
that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  who  is  in  Heaven. 

Matt.  7:21. 

Sincerity. — And  he  spake  also  this  parable  unto  cer- 
tain who  trusted  in  themselves  that  they  were  right- 
eous and  set  all  others  at  naught :  Two  men  went  up  into 
the  Temple  to  pray,  the  one  a  Pharisee  and  the  other 
a  Publican.  The  Pharisee  stood  and  prayed  thus  with 
himself:  God,  I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  as  the  rest  of 
men,  extortioners,  unjust,  adulterers,  or  even  as  this 
Publican.  I  fast  twice  in  the  week;  I  give  tithes  of  all 
that  I  get. 

But  the  Publican  standing  afar  off  would  not  lift  up  so 
much  as  his  eyes  unto  Heaven,  but  smote  upon  his  breast 
saying,  God,  be  thou  merciful  to  me  a  sinner.  I  say  unto 
you,  this  man  went  down  to  his  house  justified  rather 
than  the  other;  for  everyone  that  exalteth  himself  shall 
be  humbled;  but  he  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be 
exalted.  Luke  18:9-14. 

Simplicity. — And  in  praying  use  not  vain  repetitions 
as  the  Gentiles  do:  for  they  think  that  they  shall  be  heard 
for  their  much  speaking.  Be  not  therefore  like  unto 
them,  for  your  Father  knoweth  what  things  ye  have  need 
of,  before  ye  ask  him.  Matt.  6:7-8. 


In  tbe  Mork  ot  Xite  t] 

Alone  with  God. — And  when  ye  pray,  ye  shall  not 
be  as  the  hypocrites;  for  they  love  to  stand  and  pray  in 
the  synagogues  and  in  the  corners  of  the  streets,  that  they 
may  be  seen  of  men.  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  they  have 
received  their  reward.  But  thou,  when  thou  prayest, 
enter  into  thine  inner  chamber,  and  having  shut  thy  door, 
pray  to  thy  Father  who  is  in  secret,  and  thy  Father  who 
seeth  in  secret,  shall  recompense  thee. 

Matthew  6:5-6. 

Let  us  therefore  draw  near  with  boldness  unto  the 
throne  of  grace,  that  we  may  receive  mercy  and  may  find 
grace  to  help  us  in  time  of  need. 

Hebrews  4:16. 


WITNESS  OF  MEN 

When  first  thine  eyes  unveil,  give  thy  soul  leave 

To  do  the  like :  our  bodies  but  forerun 

The  spirit's  duty.     True  hearts  spread  and  heave 

Unto  their  God  as  flowers  do  to  the  sun. 

Give  Him  thy  first  thoughts  then;  so  shalt  thou  keep 

Him  company  all  day  and  in  Him  sleep. 

Joseph  Nessima  took  as  his  motto  for  the  great  work 
he  accomplished  in  Japan,  *'Let  us  advance  upon  our 
knees. " 

Do  not  ask  anything  of  God  which  you  would  not  wish 
man  to  know ;  nor  anything  of  man  which  you  would  not 
wish  God  to  know.  Seneca. 

"Bought  by  the  power  of  prayer, "  is  the  motto  written 
across  the  first  building  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  in  India. 


78  JBible  StiiD^ 


The  veteran  missionary,  Bengal,  was  known  for  his 
deeply  devoted  prayer  life.  One  of  his  friends  being 
curious  to  hear  the  missionary  pray  when  he  was  quite 
alone,  concealed  himself  in  the  room  one  night  while 
the  devoted  man  was  at  work.  After  hours  of  patient 
toil,  the  old  man  arose  and  throwing  aside  his  garments 
fell  upon  his  knees  and  said  in  a  perfectly  natural  voice, 
"I  thank  thee,  O  God,  that  we  meet  on  the  same  old 
terms. "     He  then  arose  and  went  to  his  couch. 

Enoch  Arden  returning  from  his  long  wanderings 
arrived  by  night  to  look  across  his  garden  and  see  his 
home  and  family,  dear  to  him,  in  the  hands  of  another. 
He  refused  to  break  in  upon  that  happiness,  but  crept 
down  to  a  little  hut  beside  the  sea  to  work  and  to  die 
alone.  He  was  not  however  without  compensation,  for 
as  Tennyson  described  him, 

He  was  not  all  unhappy.     His  resolve 
Upbore  him,  and  firm  faith,  and  evermore 
Prayer  from  a  living  source  within  the  will, 
And  beating  up  through  all  the  bitter  world 
Like  fountains  of  sweet  water  in  the  sea 
Kept  him  a  living  soul. 

O,  Prayer,  thou  mine  of  things  unknown, 

Who  can  be  poor  possessing  thee? 
Thou  wert  a  fount  of  joy  alone, 

Better  than  worlds  of  gold  could  be. 
Were  I  bereft  of  all  beside. 

That  bears  the  form  or  name  of  bliss, 
I  yet  were  rich,  what  will  betide, 

If  God  in  mercy  leave  me  this. 

Edmeston. 

Pray  for  my  soul.     More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer 
Than  this  world  dreams  of.     Wherefore,  let  thy  voice 


irn  tbe  Mork  ot  %itc  79 

Rise  like  a  fountain  for  me  night  and  day. 

For  what  are  men  better  than  sheep  or  goats 

That  nourish  a  blind  life  within  the  brain, 

If,  knowing  God,  they  lift  not  hands  of  prayer 

Both  for  themselves  and  those  who  call  them  friend? 

For  so  the  whole  round  earth  is  every  way 

Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God. 

The  Passing  of  Arthur. 


IS  PRAYER  ESSENTIAL  FOR  SUCCESS? 

Hoffman  the  great  painter  said  that  he  caught  the 
figure  of  his  masterpiece,  the  boy  Jesus,  from  a  certain 
Dresden  youth,  but  the  face  he  gained  by  prayer. 

Prayer  is  chiefly  valuable  in  revealing  to  us  the  nature 
and  the  character  of  God,  a  medium  of  knowing  our 
Father.  Ruskin  says  that  the  greatest  thing  a  human 
being  can  do  in  this  world  is  to  see  something,  and  then 
go  and  tell  what  he  has  seen  in  a  plain  way.  If  this  be 
true,  the  man  who  learns  the  secret  of  finding  God,  of 
seeing  Him  face  to  face  in  spiritual  vision  day  by  day, 
and  who  can  go  out  from  that  vision  splendid  to  make  all 
things  according  to  the  vision  seen  in  the  mount,  as 
Moses  did,  that  man  is  truly  the  world's  great  man. 
There  can  be  no  really  bad  days  for  such  a  man. 

The  difference  between  men  is  not  simply  in  the  things 
which  they  see,  but  also  in  the  vividness  with  which 
they  see  them.  The  person  who  has  the  inner  conscious- 
ness of  God  through  spoken  or  unspoken  prayer  possesses 
a  peculiar  power  of  certainty  and  assurance,  whatever 
his  life  may  be.  He  feels  like  Paul  who  said,  when  other 
things  were  falling  away  from  him,  "Have  I  not  seen 
Jesus  Christ?"  He  is  guarded  from  disappointment  and 
defeat  by  the  realization  that  God  is  on  his  side,  that  He  is 


8o  JSible  St\xt>^ 


truly  interested  in  him  and  that  he  can  turn  to  Him  as 
naturally  as  the  flower  turns  to  the  sun  for  inspiration 
and  for  light  and  for  growth.  This  certainty  made  the 
martyrs  of  the  early  Church.  It  has  been  the  main- 
spring of  power  in  the  great  leadership  of  the  world.  It 
has  stirred  to  persistent  and  irresistible  effort  men  like 
Jesus,  who  have  been  isolated  by  the  very  greatness  of 
their  vision,  lifted  out  of  banalities  and  the  commonplace 
by  the  ever-present,  divine  assurance  that  the  Psalmist 
felt,  "Thou  art  near,  O  Lord." 

But  prayer  not  only  brings  to  the  individual  the 
consciousness  of  God,  it  also  affords  a  true  appreciation 
of  one's  self.  **Know  thyself,"  said  the  old  Greek 
philosopher,  and  gathered  in  these  two  words  one  of  the 
chief  means  for  character  building.  Prayer,  especially 
when  it  is  earnest,  secret  prayer,  reveals  the  true  nature 
of  the  individual  as  compared  with  the  character  of 
Christ.  We  are  told  that  Mark  Antony  pointed  out 
the  various  rents  in  the  robe  of  the  murdered  Caesar 
and  identified  each  rent  with  the  name  of  the  cruel 
smiter ;  likewise  in  prayer  one  learns  to  place  for  a  moment 
at  least  one's  thoughts  upon  the  weaknesses  and  the 
failures  of  the  daily  life  and  to  identify  these  with  their 
causes.     One  learns  to  say, 

"Search  me,  O  God,  and  know  my  heart, 
Try  me  and  know  my  thoughts 
And  see  if  there  be  any  wicked  way  in  me, 
And  lead  me  in  the  way  everlasting." 

There  is  no  greater  need  and  no  need  attended  by 
greater  difficulty  of  habitual  performance,  than  this  need 
to  cultivate  the  habit  of  prayer,  of  silent  communion  with 
God,  the  art  of  spiritual  contemplation,  the  ability  to  be 
alone,  to  think  and  to  pray.     The  average  person  knows 


f  n  tbe  Morft  ot  Xite  8i 

a  hundred  things  better  than  he  knows  himself.  He 
sees  too  much  to  see  any  one  thing  clearly.  His  friends 
and  acquaintances,  his  work  and  his  play  are  subjects 
of  constant  thought  and  conversation,  but  how  many 
have  the  habit  of  spending  at  least  once  a  week  an  hour 
alone,  in  the  solitude  of  their  own  personality,  far  from  the 
strife  of  business  and  the  externalities  of  social  life?  We 
mistake  emphasis  and  enthusiasm  for  wisdom  and  per- 
spective— driven  by  the  time  spirit.  Jeremy  Taylor  used 
to  call  this  getting  away  for  silent  prayer  "practicing 
the  presence  of  God." 

"If  chosen  men  could  never  be  alone. 
In  deep  mid-silence  open-doored  with  God 
No  greatness  ever  had  been  dreamed  or  done." 

Each  year,  freighted  with  its  new  discoveries  of  scien- 
tific laws,  makes  it  easier  for  the  thoughtful  person  to 
believe  in  prayer.  In  the  light  of  the  marvelous  inven- 
tions of  the  twentieth  century,  prayer  is  no  longer  a 
miracle.  The  miraculous  character  of  certain  answers 
to  prayer,  found  not  only  in  the  Bible  but  also  in  life,  is 
made  intelligible  by  modem  discovery  of  laws  which  were 
heretofore  hidden,  reminding  us  that  there  are  still 
other  laws  whose  workings  are,  as  yet,  known  only  to  the 
divine  mind.  One  thing  is  certain,  proven  by  history 
and  personal  experience,  that  these  laws  of  God  are 
intended  for  good,  to  make  His  children  happy;  that  He 
who  watches  a  sparrow's  fall  is  in  constant  and  intimate 
relationships  for  protection  and  for  peace  with  the  men 
and  women  whom  He  has  placed  upon  this  earth.  Their 
faith  expressed  in  Him  is  the  spontaneous  and  eternal 
sign  of  His  fatherhood  and  care. 

The  great  Gospel  message  for  prayer  is  to  launch  out 
upon  the  goodness  of  God  and  His  willingness  and  eager- 


82  JSible  Stu^p 


ness  to  help  His  children.  "Ask  and  ye  shall  receive," 
is  a  kind  of  refrain  running  through  all  of  Christ's  teach- 
ings. Prayer  is  the  adventure  of  our  belief  in  the  Al- 
mighty. It  is  the  utter  casting  of  ourselves  upon  a  God 
who  cares  for  us,  who  is  more  willing  to  give  than  we  are 
to  ask,  and  who  says  over  and  over  again,  "Come  unto 
me,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.  ** 


QUESTIONS  FOR  THOUGHT  AND  DISCUSSION 

What  are  the  conditions,  according  to  the  Bible,  for 
successful  prayer? 

Matt,  i  8 :  i 9-20 ;  Mark  i  i  :  24-25 ;  John  i 6 :  23-24. 

Would  you  call  the  awakening  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  the 
rising  up  of  his  spirit  in  a  longing  for  his  father  and  his 
home,  a  prayer?  Luke  15: 17-18. 

William  James  called  mystery  the  "more- to-be- 
known."  Do  you  think  that  what  is  commonly  called 
a  miracle  is  necessarily  an  infraction  of  natural  law 
because  we  cannot  explain  it?  Is  it  limiting  the 
Almightiness  of  God  to  believe  that  He  chooses  to 
work  according  to  laws  and  knowledge  of  which  we  have 
not  yet  gained? 

What  do  you  think  Jesus  achieved  by  prayer?  What 
have  you  ever  achieved  by  prayer? 

What  kind  of  prayers  did  Jesus  prefer? 

Matt.  6:  5-15;  Matt.  21:22;  Mark  12:40. 

Do  you  really  expect  that  your  prayers  will  be  an- 
swered? Would  you  be  surprised  to  see  them  literally 
fulfilled?     Do  you  act  in  accordance  with  your  prayers? 

Dan.  9:20-23;  John  14:  13-14;  John  15: 16;  John 
16:  23-24;  James  i  :  5-7. 


•ffn  tbe  miovli  ot  Xite  83 

A  young  man  confessed  that  he  was  hindered  from 
entering  the  Christian  life  by  a  number  of  well-meaning 
people  who  repeatedly  assured  him  that  they  were  pray- 
ing for  him.  Does  it  really  help  you  to  know  that  people 
are  praying  for  you?  Under  what  conditions  is  it  helpful 
to  know  that  people  remember  you  in  their  prayers? 
Does  the  kind  of  person  who  does  the  praying  make  a 
difference?  Job  42 :  8 ;  James  5:16. 

If  prayer  is  universal  and  necessary  for  happiness  and 
success,  why  are  not  prayer  meetings  more  popular? 

Do  you  believe  in  prayer  for  the  daily  events  of  human 
Ufe? 

A  good  many  people  hold  that  it  is  worth  while  to 
pray  for  definite  needs  in  the  case  of  important  events 
and  decisions,  or  at  times  of  sorrow,  temptation,  or 
calamity.  Tad  Jones,  the  former  football  star  at  Yale, 
astonished  many  of  his  fellow-students  at  a  foot-ball 
dinner  at  Cambridge  subsequent  to  a  Yale  victory. 
When  asked  what  he  thought  was  the  reason  for  his 
success  in  the  game,  he  answered  that  he  had  spent 
several  hours  praying  that  he  might  be  able  to  do  his 
very  best  that  day. 

Jehovah  is  nigh  unto  all  them  that  call  upon  him, 
To  all  that  call  upon  him  in  truth.     Psalm  145 :  18. 
Hebrews  id:  22;  Psalms  62:  7-8;  I  John  5: 14-15. 

Is  it  ever  right  to  pray  for  things  that  seem  unreason- 
able to  us?  For  example  is  it  sensible  to  pray  to  God  to 
heal  diseases  without  the  use  of  medicine  or  medical  skill 
when  these  are  at  hand? 

Again  we  find  Jesus  praying  before  he  raised  Lazarus 
from  the  dead  saying,  "Father  I  thank  thee  that  thou 
hast  heard  me,  and  I  knew  that  thou  hearest  me  always," 
showing  that  his  prayer  for  Lazarus  had  been  constant 


84        JBible  Stu^p  in  tbe  Morft  ot  Xife 

though  silent,  and  that  he  had  the  assurance  in  his  own 
heart  of  the  answer  before  the  event.  Have  we  a  right 
to  indulge  in  such  seemingly  unreasonable  prayers?  If 
so,  why?     If  not,  what  reasons  would  you  present? 

When  praying  for  help,  especially  in  times  of  trouble,  do 
we  really  leave  our  burdens  with  God  or  still  carry  them? 
Jesus  said  to  Martha,  "  Said  I  not  unto  thee,  that  if  thou 
belie vedst,  thou  shouldst  see  the  glory  of  God?" 

There  are  times  in  the  lives  of  most  persons  when  one 
has  no  inclination  to  pray;  physical  weariness  or  great 
anguish  of  spirit,  or  at  times  the  consciousness  of  sin  or 
depression  seems  to  exclude  prayer. 

Should  a  person  have  a  habit  of  prayer  that  takes  him 
to  God  regardless  of  his  feelings?  At  such  times  a  cer- 
tain sect  maintain  you  should  go  to  another  for  prayer. 
Do  you  agree  with  this?  What  did  Jesus  teach  regarding 
prayer  under  such  circumstances? 

Matt.  26: 36-46;  Luke  18:  i. 

The  survivors  of  the  Titanic  disaster  tell  of  the  univer- 
sal promptings  to  prayer  on  the  part  of  virtually  all  of 
the  hundreds  of  passengers,  regardless  of  their  beliefs, 
which  would  seem  to  show  that  prayer  expressed  or 
unexpressed  is  a  universal  characteristic  of  the  human 
heart.     Do  you  believe  this  and  how  is  it  explained? 
Promises  of    God:    I  John  5:14-15;    Isaiah  58:9; 
Matthew   18:19;    Matthew   7:7;    Psalms    50: 
15;  Psalms  91: 15;  I  John  3:22;  Read  Psalm  51; 
John  17. 


I  VII 

God's  Laws  for  Happiness 


8s 


VII 

GOD'S  LAWS  FOR  HAPPINESS 

These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you  that  my  joy  may 
be  in  you,  and  that  your  joy  may  be  made  full. 

John  15:11. 

And  whoso  trusteth  in  Jehovah,  happy  is  he. 

Proverbs  16:20. 

The  battle  is  not  yours,  but  God's. 

II  Chronicles  20: 15. 

Hitherto  have  ye  asked  nothing  in  my  name:  ask,  and 
ye  shall  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  made  full. 

John  16:24. 

A  glad  heart  maketh  a  cheerful  countenance. 

Proverbs  15: 13. 

Go  thy  way,  eat  thy  bread  with  joy,  and  drink  thy 
wine  with  a  merry  heart;  for  God  hath  already  accepted 
thy  works.  Ecclesiastes  9:7. 

Peace  I  leave  with  you,  my  peace  I  give  unto  you;  not 
as  the  world  giveth,  give  I  imto  you.  Let  not  your  heart 
be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  fearfid. 

John  14:27. 

The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  within  you. 

Luke  17:21 
87 


88  JBtble  Stu^^ 


Thou  wilt  show  me  the  path  of  Ufe; 
In  thy  presence  is  fullness  of  joy ; 
In  thy  right  hand  there  are  pleastu'es  for  evermore. 

Psalm  i6:  ii. 

These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  in  me  ye 
may  have  peace.  In  the  world  ye  have  tribulation; 
but  be  of  good  cheer;  I  have  overcome  the  world. 

John  16:33. 

Casting  all  your  anxiety  upon  him,  because  he  careth 
for  you.  I  Peter  5:7. 

In  nothing  be  anxious;  but  in  everything  by  prayer 
and  supplication  with  thanksgiving  let  your  requests  be 
made  known  imto  God.  Phil.  4: 6. 

Have  this  mind  in  you  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Phil.  2:5 

Make  a  joyful  noise  unto  Jehovah,  all  ye  lands. 

Serve  Jehovah  with  gladness;  come  before  His  presence 
with  singing. 

Ejiow  ye  that  Jehovah  He  is  God ; 

It  is  He  that  hath  made  us,  and  we  are  His ; 

We  are  His  people,  and  the  sheep  of  His  pasture. 

Enter  into  His  gates  with  thanksgiving, 

And  into  His  courts  with  praise ; 

Give  thanks  unto  Him,  and  bless  His  name. 

For  Jehovah  is  good :  His  loving- kindness  endureth  for- 
ever. 

And  His  faithfulness  imto  all  generations. 

Psalm  100. 

And  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding, 
shall  guard  your  hearts  and  your  thoughts  in  Christ 
Jesus.  Phil.  4:7. 


•ffn  tbe  Kllorft  ot  Xife  89 

WITNESS  OF  MEN 

If  a  man  is  unhappy  this  must  be  his  own  fault.  God 
intended  every  man  to  be  happy.  Epictetus. 

If  all  can  not  live  on  the  piazza,  every  one  may  feel  the 
sun.  Italian  Proverb. 

You  have  not  fulfilled  every  duty  unless  you  have 
fulfilled  that  of  being  pleasant. 

Charles  Buxton. 

Theodore  Parker,  erudite  and  capable,  exclaimed  upon 
his  premature  death-bed:  "Oh  that  I  had  known  the  art 
of  life,  or  found  some  book  or  some  man,  to  tell  me  how  to 
live,  to  study,  to  take  exercise,  to  be  really  happ}''!" 

Light  foot,  tight  foot, 
Green  grass  spread; 
Early  in  the  morning 
Hope  is  on  ahead. 

R.  L.  Stevenson. 

Whoever  enjoys  not  life,  I  count  him  but  an  apparition, 
though  he  wears  about  him  the  visible  affections  of 
flesh.  Sir  T.  Browne. 

I  find  earth  not  gray,  but  rosy, 
Heaven  not  grim,  but  fair  of  hue. 
Do  I  stoop?     I  pick  a  posy; 
Do  I  stand  and  stare?    All's  blue. 

Robert  Browning. 

I  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  thieves.  .  .  .  They 
have  not  taken  away  my  merry  countenance,  my  cheerful 
spirit,  and  my  good  conscience. 

Jeremy  Taylor. 


90  Bible  Stub^ 


In  the  teaching  of  Christ,  happiness  was  not  only  the 
reward  of  duty,  but  a  duty  itself. 

Sir  John  Lubbock. 

So  take  Joy  home. 
And  make  a  place  in  thy  great  heart  for  her, 
And  give  her  time  to  grow,  and  cherish  her. 
Then  will  she  come  and  oft  will  sing  to  thee, 
When  thou  art  working  in  the  furrows,  ay, 
Or  weeding  in  the  sacred  hours  of  dawn. 
It  is  seemly  fashion  to  be  glad, 
Joy  is  the  grace  we  say  to  God. 

Jean  Ingelow. 

Oh,  Lord,  how  happy  should  we  be 
If  we  could  cast  our  care  on  Thee, 

If  we  from  self  could  rest ; 
And  feel  at  heart  that  One  above, 
In  perfect  wisdom,  perfect  love. 

Is  working  for  the  best ! 

Carlyle. 


GOD'S  LAWS  FOR  HAPPINESS 

What  is  the  secret  of  happiness?  It  is  the  universal 
question;  to  discover  it  is  the  constant  and  common 
ambition  of  men. 

Varro,  years  ago,  cited  two  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
opinions  of  philosophers  with  reference  to  happiness. 
One  school  of  metaphysics  maintains  that  happiness  is 
the  chief  end  of  life;  at  times  it  has  meant  to  philosophers 
and  to  theologians,  pleasure,  at  other  times  a  utilitarianism 
working  "the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number, "  and 
again,  Duty. 


irn  tbe  Morft  of  %itc  91 

It  is  quite  generally  conceded  that  men  find  happiness 
not  by  seeking  it  directly  but  along  the  way  to  a  worthy 
goal.  Like  good  health  it  is  the  attendant  of  useful 
occupations.  It  is  the  music  which  is  the  gladness  of  the 
world,  the  joy  of  seeing  others  happy.  Plutarch  said 
that  he  first  began  to  write  biography  for  the  sake  of 
others,  but  soon  found  that  the  lives  of  the  men  whose 
personal  history  and  achievements  he  was  studying  were 
serving  as  rich  examples  for  his  own  improvement  and 
happiness. 

Religion  at  its  height  is  a  transport,  a  new  heaven  and 
a  new  earth;  it  is  defined  in  the  New  Testament  as 
light  and  life  and  hope  and  peace.  The  Bible  is  full 
of  songs.  Christ  speaks  of  a  sinner's  conversion  as 
creating  "joy  in  heaven."  Happiness  is  the  magic 
which  makes  the  reformed  thief  and  drunkard  a  factor 
in  the  salvation  of  others.  John  B.  Cough's  glad 
triumph  was  the  message  of  his  life.  Harold  Begbie  has 
said  that  at  the  ver}'-  heart  of  the  mystery  of  conversion 
there  is  a  wild  joy. 

Happiness  is  not  a  matter  of  chance  nor  of  mere  good 
luck,  it  depends  upon  certain  unchanging  laws. 

HAPPINESS  THE  RESULT  OF  RIGHT  THINKING 

The  Bible  is  rich  in  emphasis  of  the  fact  that  as  a  man 
thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he.  Paul  teaches  that  lasting 
peace  and  power  come  from  bringing  every  thought  into 
subjection  to  Cod.  *"The  mind  is  its  own  place,"  says 
Milton,  "and  in  itself  can  make  a  Heaven  of  Hell,  a 
Hell  of  Heaven."  One  is  peculiarly  impressed  in  the 
study  of  the  life  of  Jesus  with  the  tranquillity  and 
poise  of  mind  which  he  brought  to  every  task  and 
exigency.  The  quality,  the  direction,  and  the  attitude 
of  his  mind  seemed  to  lift  him  above  the  power  of  exter- 


92  3Bible  Stut)p 


nalities.  It  gave  him  the  sense  of  authority  which  im- 
pressed all  who  heard  him  speak. 

He  gave  to  the  world  for  consideration  the  unique  and 
tremendous  truth  that  sin  was  a  matter  primarily  of  the 
thoughts  and  imaginations,  and  that  it  was  possible  for 
heinous  sin  to  exist  in  the  attitude  of  a  man's  mind.  He 
exhibited  in  his  own  life  the  fact  that  no  physical  chain 
can  bind  the  personality  of  one  whose  mind  is  free  and 
pure. 

"Man,  what  are  you  saying,"  says  Epictetus,  when 
they  told  him  that  they  were  going  to  put  him  in  prison, 
"you  may  put  my  body  in  prison,  but  my  mind  not  even 
Zeus  himself  can  overpower. " 

This  attitude  of  mind  is  of  vital  importance  if  one  is  to 
be  permanent!}'  happy.  It  is  not  only  important  to 
subject  the  mind  to  the  scrutiny  of  God,  but  it  is  indis- 
pensable to  keep  the  thoughts  turned  constantly  toward 
success,  toward  positive  things,  toward  affirmations 
rather  than  the  negations  of  life.  Our  careers  are  directly 
colored  and  shaped  by  the  things  we  think  about.  No 
man  who  wishes  to  be  happy  should  allow  his  mind  to 
rest  on  failure  or  loss  or  defeat ;  he  should  never  mention 
them;  these  things  should  be  passed  by  as  incidents 
merely,  as  lessons  of  experience  toward  the  final  achieve- 
ment upon  which  a  man's  thought  must  be  riveted  with 
invincible  determination.  Recently  a  man  said  to  me, 
"  My  business  career  was  a  failure,"  and  I  realized  at  once 
that  this  was  true  largely  because  the  settled  attitude 
of  the  man's  mind  was  tov^ard  failure  rather  than  toward 
successful  accomplishment,  toward  the  past  rather  than 
toward  the  present  with  all  its  wealth  of  possibility  to 
every  indefatigable  worker. 

That  which  we  allow  our  minds  to  dwell  upon  deter- 
mines largely  our  direction  of  progress,  as  well  as  the 
character  and  extent  of  that  progress.     If  you  would  be 


•ffn  tbe  mork  ot  Xlte  93 

happy,  turn  away  from  your  ill-feelings  to  happy  thoughts. 
Ponder  your  friendships  rather  than  your  enmities.  It  is 
nature's  way  to  make  us  forget  our  physical  illnesses 
almost  as  soon  as  they  are  passed;  likewise  we  should 
forget  oxir  failures  and  our  weaknesses  in  the  acceptance 
of  God's  ever  fresh  invitation  to  be  right  with  Him  and 
therefore  happy. 

Happiness  is  the  result  of  right  thinking,  the  result  of 
keeping  the  mind  fixed  upon  high  and  joyous  things 
through  a  regular  habit  of  meditating  upon  the  friend- 
ship and  the  power  of  God,  with  whom  we  are  working 
in  imison. 

HAPPINESS  IN  SELF-MASTERY 

Happiness  is  an  inner  possession,  an  inner  victory — 
it  is  always  our  own  victory.  Jesus  furnished  the  world 
a  model  for  the  attainment  of  the  happy  life  by  living 
according  to  his  guiding  principle,  which  was,  "not  my 
will  but  Thine  be  done. "  The  will  is  the  man  and  the 
keenest  satisfactions  of  the  spiritual  life  come  with  its 
mastery.  It  is  through  the  moral  elevation  of  our  inner 
self,  as  Henry  Drummond  once  said,  that  our  real  success 
is  measured  or  is  measiu-able. 

The  happiness  of  self-mastery  lies  in  the  control  of 
one's  passion,  temper,  appetites,  and  in  the  ability  to 
make  one's  self  do  the  things  that  he  ought  to  do  at  the 
time  they  should  be  done.  A  decided  foe  to  happiness  is 
the  loss  of  self-respect  which  is  the  price  that  a  person 
pays  for  the  surrender  of  self-control.  All  losses  can  be 
borne  more  easily  than  the  loss  of  one's  self.  This  dis- 
respect for  our  own  individuality  is  also  dependent  upon 
our  attitude  toward  the  happiness  of  others.  There  are 
no  permanent  satisfactions  at  the  expense  of  human  loss 
and  degradation.     Just  as  truly  as  there  is  no  real  per- 


94  JBiUc  StUt)p 


sonal  and  abiding  joy  in  the  ways  of  license  and  domi- 
nance of  the  senses,  so  there  is  no  permanent  happiness 
which  is  gained  at  the  cost  of  the  stained  whiteness  of 
another's  hfe. 

The  matchless  prize  of  a  happy  life  is  the  result  of  a 
controlled  will. 

"Oh,  well  for  him  whose  will  is  strong; 
He  suffers,  but  he  can  not  suffer  long; 
He  suffers,  but  he  will  not  suffer  wrong! 
Nor  moves  for  him  the  loud  worid's  random  mock, 
Nor  all  calamities'  hugest  waves  confound. 
He  seems  a  promontory  of  rock 
That,  compassed  round  with  turbulent  soimd. 
In  middle  ocean  meets  the  surging  shock. 
Tempest-buffeted,  but  citadel-crowned." 

HAPPINESS    IN    WORK 

Carlyle  said  that  it  was  unnecessary  for  men  to  be 
happy  provided  they  had  work  to  do.  But  if  men  have 
work,  their  work  to  do,  and  do  it  in  the  right  spirit,  they 
will  be  happy.  Happiness  is  being  in  one's  own  place 
with  one's  own  tools  in  one's  hand.  Work  that  really 
belongs  to  us  lifts  us  out  of  the  commonplace ;  it  takes  our 
minds  off  ourselves  and  our  cares  and  grievances.  It 
makes  us  citizens  of  that  most  royal  kingdom,  the 
kingdom  of  happy  occupation.  Activity  is  really  the 
royal  road  to  happiness. 

Carlyle  wrote  to  his  mother : 

"You  can  not  think  what  a  comfort  the  feeling  that  I 
am  doing  an  honest  work  in  God's  creation,  whether  I 
be  ever  paid  for  it  or  not,  gives  me;  I  have  not  been  as 
contented  for  many  years.  The  great  uproar  of  London 
is  a  great  beautiful  moving  picture  for  me;  I  say  to  it,  with 
the  greatest  good  nature,  '  Go  thou  thy  way,  I  am  going 


irn  tbc  XKIlorft  ot  Xtte  95 

mine.'  There  is  no  blessedness  in  the  world  equal  to 
that.'* 

When  you  are  unhappy  go  and  do  something  for  others. 
Richard  Cobden  lost  his  wife,  and  shortly  afterwards  his 
daughter;  he  was  utterly  in  despair  and  was  ready  to  die. 
His  friend  John  Bright  came  to  him  one  day  and  said: 
"Cobden,  there  are  sixty  thousand  children  who  are 
to-day  slowly  d)dng  in  England  by  reason  of  overwork 
and  long  hours  in  the  mills  and  factories.  Why  not 
harness  your  sorrow  to  a  life-work  for  these  children? 
This  suggestion  was  the  expulsive  power  of  a  new  affec- 
tion for  Richard  Cobden.  It  was  to  him  the  incentive 
for  his  greatest  life-work,  the  work  for  which  he  will  be 
remembered  longest  by  Englishmen.  Not  every  one 
can  be  a  Richard  Cobden  to  harness  his  sorrow  or  defeat 
to  a  vast  undertaking,  but  every  one  can  produce  the 
same  joyous  effect  in  his  own  life  by  answering  the  call  at 
his  very  door  for  some  tmselfish  service. 

What  is  the  guiding  principle  upon  which  we  can  be 
assured  of  right  thoughts,  right  will,  and  right  occupation, 
and  thereby  be  assured  of  our  birthright,  which  is  happi- 
ness? It  lies  in  the  certainty  that  we  are  fulfilling  our 
career  under  the  eye  of  God.  To  be  sure  that  we  are 
doing  the  will  of  God  in  our  particular  life* work  means  to 
be  sure  that  we  are  going  to  have  God  with  us  in  every 
extremity  and  in  every  daily  need,  and  this  is  the  absolute 
certainty  of  being  and  remaining  happy.  There  is  a 
universal  will  of  God  for  all  the  world  to  follow.  It 
exists  in  doing  right,  in  being  honest,  truthful,  and  pure 
in  mind.  There  is  also  an  individual  will  of  God  for 
every  person,  a  will  of  God  which  is  suited  to  our  own 
individual  capabilities  and  task  and  position  in  life. 
Unless  we  fulfill  that  will  of  God  in  our  particular  niche, 
the  vast  circle  of  God's  purpose  on  earth  will  be  incom- 
plete.   No  one  can  do  this  particular  will  of  God  for  me. 


96  Bible  Stut)^ 


For  me  alone  is  the  task.  For  me  alone  is  the  crown  of 
victory,  for  me  alone  is  the  joy  of  fulfillment,  for  me 
alone  is  the  realization  of  the  definite  promise  of  Christ 
that  "my  joy  may  be  in  you  and  that  your  joy  may  be 
made  full." 


QUESTIONS  FOR  THOUGHT  AND  DISCUSSION 

How  would  you  define  happiness  in  the  light  of  your 
own  experience  ? 

Is  happiness  a  duty? 

Psalm    ioo;    Eccl.    9:7;     Phil.     4:8-9;     Matt. 
6: 16-17;  Phil.  4:4-7. 

Is  the  thing  that  gives  you  pleasure  taking  away  from 
the  happiness  or  well-being  of  persons  affected  by  your 
acts?     Is  this  a  legitimate  test  of  right  pleasure? 

I  Cor.  8:9-13;  Matt.  25:40. 

Christ  dealt  with  individuals.  Crowds  came  to  him 
to  be  healed,  but  he  did  not  heal  them  in  crowds,  but 
individually,  fitting  his  injunctions  to  particular  cases. 
Would  this  signify  that  God  has  a  type  of  happiness 
particulariy  fitted  to  each  individual? 

Are  people  originally  and  by  temperament  happy? 
If  unhappy  is  it  due  to  a  development  of  wrong  faculties? 
How  can  this  be  remedied? 

The  medieval  churches  were  filled  with  gloom  and 
crucifixes;  Christ  was  always  "the  man  of  sorrows  and 
acquainted  with  grief."  Was  this  the  predominating 
characteristic  of  the  Jesus  of  the  gospels? 

John  8: 12;  Matt,  ii:  19;  John  2:  i-ii. 


•ffn  tbe  Morft  of  Xite  97 

Why  is  a  man  who  gives  way  to  his  appetites  and 
passions  never  permanently  happy? 

Gal.  5:  16-25;  Rom.  6:23;  Rom.  8:6. 

Mark  Antony  sought  happiness  in  love,  Brutus  in 
fame,  Caesar  in  power,  Solomon  in  splendor;  Antony 
found  disgrace,  Brutus  disgust,  Caesar  ingratitude  and 
death,  Solomon  (in  his  words)  "all  is  vanity."  What 
was  the  reason  of  their  failure? 

In  Cardinal  Newman's  hymn  Lead,  Kindly  Light,  he 
says: 

Keep  thou  my  feet,  I  do  not  ask  to  see 
The  distant  scene ;  one  step  enough  for  me. 

Do  we  miss  happiness  by  failing  to  find  it  at  our  very 
doors  in  the  day*s  work?  Are  you  looking  for  happiness 
in  the  futtu*e  instead  of  to-day? 

Do  you  believe  that  God  intends  happiness  for  every 
human  being?  What  are  you  doing  towards  the  fulfill- 
ment of  God's  laws  of  happiness  for  individuals  less 
favored  than  yourself — for  example,  the  poor  in  our 
great  cities,  the  country  boy  who  is  struggling  against 
heavy  odds,  the  children  in  the  factories,  the  men  and 
women  in  the  sweat  shops,  the  man  who  is  the  slave  to 
drink? 

Promises:  Eccl.  2:26;  Psalm  4:7-8;  Psalm  128: 1-2; 

Psalm    36:7-8;     Phil.     4:19;     Psalm     37:23-25; 

Isaiah    54:10-17;  Isaiah  51:11;  Psalm  46;  Isaiah 

61 ;  John  14. 


VIII 
The  Art  of  Being  Quiet 


99 


VIII 

THE  ART  OF  BEING  QUIET 

And  the  work  of  righteousness  shall  be  peace :  and  the 
effect  of  righteousness,  quietness  and  confidence  forever. 

Isaiah  32: 17. 

Better  is  a  dry  morsel  and  quietness  therewith 
Than  a  house  full  of  feasting  with  strife. 

Proverbs  17:  i. 

The  Lord  said  to  Elijah:  "Go  forth  and  stand  upon  the 
mount  before  Jehovah."  And,  behold,  Jehovah  passed 
by,  and  a  great  and  strong  wind  rent  the  mountains 
and  brake  in  pieces  the  rocks  before  Jehovah.  But 
Jehovah  was  not  in  the  wind;  and  after  the  wind  an 
earthquake ;  but  Jehovah  was  not  in  the  earthquake ;  and 
after  the  earthquake  a  fire ;  but  Jehovah  was  not  in  the 
fire;  and  after  the  fire  a  still  small  voice  (a  sound  of 
gentle  stillness).  I  Kings  19: 11-12. 

He  leadeth  me  beside  still  waters. 

Psalm  23:2. 

Peace  I  leave  with  you;  my  peace  I  give  unto  you; 
not  as  the  world  giveth,  give  I  unto  you.  Let  not  your 
heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  fearful. 

John  14:27. 

Rejoice  in  the  Lord  always;  and  again  I  will  say 
Rejoice.      Let  your  forbearance  be  known  unto  all  men. 

lOI 


>  < 


102    :  :^     r   *        3Sible  Stut)i? 


The  Lord  is  at  hand.  In  nothing  be  anxious;  but  in 
everything  by  prayer  and  supplication  with  thanksgiv- 
ing, let  your  requests  be  made  known  unto  God.  And 
the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all  understanding,  shall 
guard  your  hearts  and  your  thoughts  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Phil.  4:4-7. 

Study  to  be  quiet. 

I  Thess.  4:  II. 

Thou  shalt  not  be  afraid  for  the  terror  by  night ;  nor  for 
the  arrow  that  flieth  by  day; 

Nor  for  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness;  nor  for 
the  destruction  that  wasteth  at  noonday. 

For  He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  over  thee,  to  keep 
thee  in  all  thy  ways.  Psalm  91 : 5,  6,  11. 

Let  it  be  the  hidden  man  of  the  heart,  in  the  incorrup- 
tible apparel  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which  is  in  the 
sight  of  God  of  great  price.  I  Peter  3 :  3-4. 

Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is 
stayed  on  Thee,  because  he  trusteth  in  Thee. 

Isaiah  26:3. 

I  exhort  therefore,  first  of  all,  that  supplications, 
prayers,  intercessions,  thanksgivings,  be  made  for  all 
men ;  for  kings  and  all  that  are  in  high  place ;  that  we  may 
lead  a  tranquil  and  quiet  life  in  all  godliness  and  gravity. 

I  Tim.  2: 1-2. 

Oh,  that  thou  hadst  hearkened  to  My  commandments! 
Then  had  thy  peace  been  as  a  river;  and  thy  righteous- 
ness as  the  waves  of  the  sea.  Isaiah  48 :  18. 

Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest.     Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and 


In  tbe  Morft  ot  Xite  103 

learn  of  me;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart;  and  ye 
shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls.  Matt,  i  i  :  28-29. 

For  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  not  eating  and  drinking, 
but  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Rom.  14: 17. 

Great  peace  have  they  that  love  Thy  law. 

Psalm  119: 165. 


WITNESS  OF  MEN 

If  one  does  not  have  rest  in  himself,  it  is  useless  to  seek 
it  elsewhere.  La  Rochefoucauld. 

I  know  that  what  we  all  want  is  inward  rest,  rest  of 
heart  and  brain,  the  calm,  strong,  self-contained,  self- 
denying  character  which  needs  no  stimulus,  for  it  has  no 
fits  of  depression ;  which  needs  no  narcotics,  for  it  has  no 
fits  of  excitement ;  which  needs  no  ascetic  restraints,  for 
it  is  strong  enough  to  use  God's  gift — without  abusing 
it.  A  character  in  a  word  which  is  truly  temperate,  not 
in  drink  and  food  merely,  but  in  all  desires,  thoughts, 
and  actions.  Freed  from  the  wild  lusts  and  ambitions  to 
which  that  old  Adam  yielded,  and  seeking  for  Hght  and 
life  by  means  forbidden,  found  thereby  disease  and 
death.  Charles  Kingsley. 

An  eminent  physician  has  attributed  physical  break- 
down to  "those  absurd  feelings  of  hurry  and  having  no 
time,  to  that  breathlessness  and  tension,  that  anxiety  of 
the  future  and  that  solicitude  of  results,  that  lack  of  inner 
harmony  and  ease.  It  is  your  relaxed  and  easy  worker 
who  is  in  no  hurry,  and  quite  thoughtless  the  while  of 
consequences,  who  is  the  most  efficient  worker.     Tension 


I04  JSible  Stut>^ 


and  anxiety,  present  and  future,  all  mixed  up  together 
in  one  mind  at  once,  are  the  surest  drags  upon  steady 
progress  and  the  true  hindrances  to  our  success. " 

Not  in  the  turmoil  of  the  busy  street. 

Nor  in  the  noise  and  confusion  of  the  throng, 

But  in  ourselves  are  triumphs  and  defeats. 

Longfellow. 

We  might  have  peace,  great  peace, 

If  we  would  not  load  ourselves  with  others'  words  and 

works 
And  with  what  concerns  us  not. 
How  can  he  be  long  at  rest 
Who  meddles  in  another's  cares, 
And  looks  for  matters  out  of  his  own  path. 
And  only  now  and  then  gathers  his  thoughts  within  him! 

Thomas  A  Kempis. 

What  a  day! 

To  Sim  me  and  do  nothing,  nay  I  think 

Merely  to  bask  and  ripen,  is  sometimes  the 

Student's  wiser  business. 

To  mix  his  blood  with  sunshine,  and  to  take 

The  wind  into  his  pulses. 

Lowell. 

The  Lady  Moon  is  my  lover, 
My  friends  are  the  oceans  four. 
The  heavens  have  roofed  me  over, 
And  the  dawn  is  my  golden  door. 
I  would  liefer  follow  the  condor 
Or  the  sea-gull,  soaring  from  ken, 
Than  bury  my  godhead  yonder 
In  the  dust  of  the  whirl  of  men. 

Chang  Chih-Ho. 


•ffn  tbe  Morft  ot  Xttc  105 

The  great  man  is  he  who  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd 
keeps  with  perfect  sweetness  the  serenity  of  solitude. 

Emerson. 

THE  ART  OF  BEING  QUIET 

No  trait  of  Jesus  is  more  universally  pictured  in  art  or 
literature  than  that  of  his  composure — his  serenity,  his 
calm  and  subdued  strength,  the  outcome  of  deep  reflec- 
tiveness and  knowledge  of  men.  Only  once  or  twice 
during  his  entire  recorded  ministry  did  he  present  any 
suggestion  of  rashness  or  departure  from  his  accustomed 
tranquillity,  and  then,  as  in  the  cleansing  of  the  temple, 
he  donainated  the  scene  with  great  might,  as  one  who 
had  the  authority  and  knew  well  the  compass  of  his 
power.  He  was  like  a  master  \dolinist  who  stands  before 
his  orchestra  sure  of  his  note  and  in  perfect  control, 
sweeping  his  instrument  with  an  assured  stroke.  Jesus 
possessed  the  art  of  never  being  taken  off  his  guard. 
He  had  what  we  lack  in  our  modern  rush  and  stress — 
peace  of  mood. 

Even  in  the  midst  of  occasions  of  joyousness  or  con- 
fusion we  are  bound  to  think  of  Christ  as  being  the 
master  of  himself,  as  being  capable  of  thought  and  correct 
perspective. 

One  of  the  most  impressive  pictures  which  I  have  ever 
seen  is  Titian's  House  of  Levi,  in  the  Academy  at  Venice. 
The  whole  scene  is  full  of  life  and  motion;  the  table  is 
filled  with  happy  guests ;  busy  servants  are  seen  hurrying 
on  all  sides;  the  air  of  merriment  and  varied  intercourse 
is  apparent.  But  the  figure  that  gives  meaning  to  it  all 
is  that  of  the  Master  sitting  in  the  midst ;  in  it  with  every 
sympathetic  and  human  sense,  but  yet  somehow  in- 
tangibly apart  from  it,  no  sign  of  far-away  abstractedness, 
no  trace  of  disdain,  but  with  all,  a  benignly  calm  and 


io6  JSible  Stut)i? 


deeply  joyous  face,  as  one  who  knew  how  to  use 
joy  without  abusing  it.  It  was  the  picture  of  the 
fundamental  happiness  that  accompanies  quietude  and 
vast  reserve,  the  figure  of  a  man  in  whose  central  life 
there  flowed  a  great  purpose,  who  was  bound  to  ex- 
perience and  enjoy  every  proper  phase  of  life,  but 
who  was  no  less  under  obligations  to  save  both  his 
spiritual  and  his  physical  machine  from  unnecessary 
wear  and  tear. 

Consider  the  event  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  when 
the  soldiers  came  to  take  him  to  the  judgment  hall,  when 
he  knew  his  hour  had  come.  Jesus  stood  in  the  midst  of 
his  startled  accusers,  his  fearful,  nervous  disciples  in 
fear  and  trembling  leaving  him  alone,  Peter,  the  man  of 
impulse,  doing  the  very  thing  he  ought  not  have  done, 
through  rashness  and  ill-considered  loyalty — ^in  all  this 
tragic  scene  Jesus  was  the  one  forceful  personaHty. 
With  what  detachment  and  perfect  deliberation  he 
addressed  the  Roman  guard.  "Are  ye  come  out  as 
against  a  robber,  with  swords  and  staves  to  seize  me?  .  .  . 
Or  thinkest  thou  that  I  cannot  beseech  my  Father  and 
He  shall  even  now  send  me  more  than  twelve  legions 
of  angels?  How  then  should  the  Scriptures  be  fulfilled 
that  thus  it  must  be?"  With  what  logic  his  answer:  "I 
told  you  that  I  am  He.  If  therefore  ye  seek  me,  let 
these  go  their  way.  .  .  .  The  cup  which  the  Father 
hath  given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?" 

There  was  no  false  motion,  no  loss  of  power  in  words,  no 
exhibition  of  fear,  though,  as  John  tells  us  in  his  account, 
"the  soldiers  went  backward  and  fell  to  the  ground." 
We  discover  no  anxiety,  no  explosive  anger  at  the  utter 
unreasonableness  and  wrong  of  the  betrayal  and  capture, 
which,  an  ordinary  person  most  certainly  would  have 
impulsively  resented.  Here  is  no  useless  expenditure 
of  passion  over  the  inevitable,  but  we  find  rather  that 


irn  tbe  Morft  ot  Xite  107 

the  accused  is  really  on  the  throne  of  judgment,  himself 
a  judge  on  his  day  of  trial.  Each  individual,  from  the 
soldier  of  the  Roman  guard  to  Pilate  himself,  instinctively 
felt  this.  It  was  the  world's  marvel  of  self-control 
and  composed  power;  no  like  exhibition  is  on 
historical  record.  Here  was  the  master  of  the  art  of 
quietness. 

How  can  a  person  achieve  such  power  of  quietude? 
How  can  one  gain  such  force  without  the  exhibition  of 
weakness  or  inaction?  At  times  we  go  into  a  business 
man's  office  and  feel  something  in  his  presence  that 
we  can  not  quite  express,  the  sense  of  man  behind  or 
within  his  presence;  the  conscious  reserve  of  a  large 
spiritual  capacity.  Manifestly  this  power  is  the  accom- 
paniment of  all  real  success,  of  all  real  and  permanent 
greatness. 

There  are  three  Scriptural  rules  for  the  attainment  of 
quietness. 

First. — Take  time  to  prepare.  No  one  gets  to  feeling 
deeply  about  any  matter  without  spending  time  to  dwell 
upon  it,  keeping  one's  thoughts  upon  it  with  some 
regularity  and  persistence.  Jesus'  attitude  of  assurance 
and  settled  calm  before  his  enemies  was  the  result  of  his 
previous  night  of  spiritual  struggle  and  preparation  in 
which  he  gained  by  prayer  the  ability  to  take  with  a 
steady  hand  the  cup  of  his  destiny.  Nor  was  this 
custom  unusual  with  him.  The  account  tells  us  that 
he  took  his  disciples  and  went  to  the  garden  "as  he  was 
wont. "  To  him  as  to  us,  the  inner  struggle  in  the  loneli- 
ness of  one's  own  personality  is  more  important  and 
decisive  than  the  outward  fulfillment.  To  Jesus,  Geth- 
semane  was  more  important  than  the  judgment  hall, 
more  decisive  than  the  cross. 

It  is  a  suggestive  study  to  read  the  Gospels  to  find  out 
the  times  when  he  slipped  away  from  the  crowd  to  be 


io8  Bible  Stubp 


alone.     To  him  as  to  every  great  soul  there  was  great 
spiritual  renewal  in 

"the  calm 
That  nature  breathes  among  the  hills  and  groves." 

The  lack  of  preparedness  is  the  reason  for  most  of 
human  failure  and  mistake.  The  regiment  which  fails 
to  prepare  upon  the  parade  ground  to  meet  adequately 
the  enemy  *s  guns  will  vainly  strive  to  make  up  for  its 
deficiencies  upon  the  field  of  battle.  The  boat  that  is 
just  capable  of  keeping  upright  in  the  quiet  harbor  will 
have  little  chance  in  the  open  sea. 

The  young  man  who  goes  wrong  in  the  city  falls,  not 
because  he  wishes  or  intends  to  lose  his  manhood,  but, 
in  the  majority  of  cases,  because  he  lacks  the  moral  and 
spiritual  reserve  to  withstand  the  sudden  and  unexpected 
approach  of  temptation.  He  goes  down  amidst  a  lot 
of  ceaseless,  rushing,  distracted  activities,  with  no  time 
to  get  his  bearings,  with  no  time  to  charge  his  will  with 
self-control.  Mark  Twain  said  he  was  like  his  razors, 
he  must  have  time  to  renew  his  edges. 

For  many  years  in  one  of  our  great  cities,  it  was  my 
work  to  meet  young  men  in  difficulty ;  men  who  often  had 
been  worsted  by  vicious  habits.  After  hearing  many  a 
tragic  life  story,  I  became  accustomed  to  ask  as  almost  the 
first  question,  "What  was  your  early  training?"  The 
hope  of  retrieval  and  reformation  of  such  men,  I  found  by 
practical  experience,  depended  almost  wholly  upon  their 
reservoir  of  moral  and  religious  reserve.  It  is  not  a  mere 
sentiment  to  say  of  a  man  that  he  had  a  good  mother,  or 
that  during  the  susceptible  years  of  his  life  he  was 
thrown  constantly  amongst  people  who  taught  him  the 
fundamental  principles  of  righteousness,  or  that  he  once 
knew  the  subdued  strength  of  being  quiet.     This  period 


irn  tbe  Morft  ot  Xtte  109 

of  preparation  is  without  doubt  the  secret  of  the  period  of 
later  power. 

A  gentleman  well  acquainted  with  customs  in  China 
showed  me  the  immense  advantages  of  certain  missions 
whose  practice  it  was  to  take  for  training  the  young 
Chinese  boys  and  girls  at  an  early  age,  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  of  the  CathoHc  Church,  "Give  us  a 
child  for  seven  years  and  we  will  be  satisfied  to  let  you 
have  him  for  the  remainder  of  his  life. " 

This  lack  of  early  preparation,  however,  may  be  made 
up  in  part  by  any  person  who  is  willing  to  pay  the  price 
of  forming  a  quiet  and  serious  habit  of  study  and  personal 
devotion — getting  apart — "going  home  much, "  as  Emer- 
son called  it.  Consider,  for  example,  the  use  of  Sunday 
as  a  day  of  preparation  for  the  other  days  in  the  week. 
Try  taking  an  hour  each  Sunday  morning  for  a  month 
to  read  one  of  the  great  books  in  the  Bible,  having  in 
mind  its  relation  to  the  coming  week's  work. 

The  Swedish  explorer  who  crossed  the  great  Chinese 
desert  told  his  men  to  load  their  camels  for  a  ten  days* 
journey.  After  they  had  proceeded  three  days  through 
the  desert  sands,  one  of  his  men  came  to  him  and  said, 
"Alas,  master,  we  only  loaded  the  camels  for  four  days' 
journey,  and  the  water  is  nearly  gone. "  As  the  account 
tells  us,  the  servants  were  left  behind  one  by  one  as  the 
days  dragged  on;  one  by  one  the  great  "ships  of  the  des- 
ert" foundered  and  fell;  the  explorer  himself  with  one  of 
his  men  just  escaped  death  and  reached  the  other  edge  of 
the  desert.  If  they  had  anticipated  their  need  with  the 
kind  of  preparation  necessary  they  could  have  defied  the 
desert.  With  the  right  use  of  Sunday,  I  venture  to  say 
that  practically  all  of  the  great  temptations  and  struggles 
of  the  modem  week  may  be  fronted  with  success.  It  is 
not  the  question  so  much  of  remembering  the  Sabbath  day 
to  keep  it  holy,  as  it  is,  in  the  phrase  of  Phillips  Brooks, 


no  Bible  Stu^p 


"  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  and  it  will  keep  you  holy.  ** 
What  is  Sunday  doing  for  you  as  a  day  of  preparation 
for  the  great  powers  of  composure  and  self-control? 
Are  you  taking  time  to  relax,  to  think,  to  grow  spiritually 
capable? 

Second. — Be  certain  that  your  motive  is  right. 

There  is  no  enemy  to  quietness  like  the  sense  of  doing 
wrong.  There  is  no  equipment  for  control  of  action  so 
mighty  as  a  conscience  void  of  offense  towards  God  and 
man.  Conscious  sin  destroys  balance  and  unhinges 
every  human  faculty.  To  be  sure  we  are  told  that 
certain  criminals  reveal  on  the  witness-stand  nerves  of 
iron,  but  their  keepers  tell  us  that  these  men  are  closely 
watched  when  they  return  to  their  cells  for  an  inevitable 
weakening,  due  to  a  false  power  of  mastery.  There  is  a 
distinct  difference  between  an  exterior  that  is  bom  of 
sheer  will-power  and  one  that  is  the  natural  result  of  a 
settled  and  imperturbable  spirit.  Paul  said  to  the 
Thessalonians,  "Our  Gospel  came  not  unto  you  in  word 
only  but  also  in  power  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit  and  in 
much  assurance."  God  said  to  Jacob  that  He  had 
changed  his  name  after  his  struggle  and  trial  from  Jacob 
to  Israel.  "For  thou  hast  striven  with  God  and  with 
men,  and  hast  prevailed." 

"Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is 
stayed  on  thee,  because  he  trusteth  in  thee, "  said  Isaiah. 

Third. — Lay  hold  on  God  with  perfect  confidence. 

When  a  man  has  taken  time  for  preparation  through 
the  certainty  of  an  absolutely  right  motive  according  to 
the  light  which  is  given  him,  he  has  a  right  to  expect  God 
to  supply  his  deficiencies  and  to  support  him  in  his 
extremity  of  need.  God  possesses  the  things  belonging 
to  our  peace  because  He  is  capable  of  supplying  every 
need  of  ours  through  His  infinite  riches.  The  Psalmist 
says,  "All  my  springs  are  in  Thee,"  and  Paul  said,  "I 


Hn  tbe  Morft  ot  %iU  m 

know  him  whom  I  have  believed  and  I  am  persuaded  that 
he  is  able  to  guard  that  which  I  have  committed  unto 
him. "  No  loss  of  friends  or  money,  no  untoward  circum- 
stances, no  difficult  or  dark  passages  of  life  can  discour- 
age those  who  are  right  with  themselves  and  with  God. 
As  Dante  says,  "In  His  will  is  our  peace,"  and  there  is 
no  possibility  of  failure  as  long  as  this  attitude  and  trust 
are  combined  with  steady  action.  "Seek  God,"  says 
F^nelon,"  within  yourself  and  you  will  surely  find  Him> 
and  with  Him  peace  and  joy." 
The  art  of  being  quiet  is  the  art  of  believing  God. 

"Father,  I  know  that  all  my  life, 
Is  portioned  out  by  Thee, 
The  changes  that  are  sure  to  come 
I  do  not  fear  to  see; 
But  I  ask  Thee  for  a  patient  mind, 
Intent  on  pleasing  Thee. " 

QUESTIONS  FOR  THOUGHT  AND  DISCUSSION 

Dwight  L.  Moody  used  to  say,  "Character  is  what  a 
man  is  in  the  dark."  Is  the  sense  of  being  right  and 
knowing  in  our  inmost  hearts  that  we  are  right,  the 
foundation  of  a  quiet  spirit?  Matt.  5:  27-30. 

Is  fear  of  any  kind  consistent  with  the  art  of  being 
quiet?  Does  it  not  help  to  eliminate  fear  when  we  con- 
sider with  what  a  bountiful  hand  God  has  provided  both 
nature  and  man?  How  He  has  supplied  the  oak  with 
more  acorns  than  are  necessary!  how  the  fniit  trees  are 
loaded  down  with  a  surplus  of  bloom !  how  the  birds  are 
fed  with  abundant  resources!  how,  in  fact,  everything 
in  nature  is  given  generously  and  not  niggardly!  "Are 
not  five  sparrows  sold  for  two  pence?  And  not  one  of 
them  is  forgotten  in  the  sight  of  God.     But  the  very 


112       Bible  StuOp  in  tbe  Morft  ot  Xife 

hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered;  fear  not;  ye  are  of 
more  value  than  many  sparrows." 

Think  of  the  reassuring  effect  of  reading  every  morning 
the  sixth  chapter  of  Matthew. 

G.  Lowes  Dickinson  said  that  the  chief  end  of  Ameri- 
cans seems  to  be  "acceleration,"  and  if  you  ask  them 
why  such  haste,  they  answer,  "  Why,  we  go  faster."  Is  it 
not  possible  to  possess  the  ability  of  direct  and  rapid 
accomplishment  and  still  retain  the  mood  of  perfect 
self-possession? 

What  is  the  relation  of  the  will  to  quietness  of  spirit? 
Can  you  will  to  be  quiet  and  free  from  care  and  always 
succeed? 

John  tells  us  that  every  one  that  committeth  sin  is  the 
bond  servant  of  sin.  Is  the  essence  of  peace  and  quiet- 
ness inherent  in  the  sense  of  freedom  from  the  slavery  of 
sin?  Psalms  51 :  3;  Heb.  id:  26-27. 

Do  you  think  that  poise  of  mind  is  an  inherited  or  a 
cultivated  faculty? 

Winston  Churchill  in  his  novel  Inside  the  Cup  lays 
great  emphasis  upon  the  fact  of  the  personaHty  of  his 
chief  character.  How  would  you  define  personality? 
What  do  you  consider  its  highest  characteristics?  Did 
you  ever  know  a  really  great  person  who  had  not 
mastered  the  art  of  being  quiet? 

As  a  remedy  for  the  foes  of  quietness  and  peace  have 
you  tried  the  determination  of  keeping  without  exception 
a  half -hour  each  morning  for  the  purpose  of  getting  into 
harmony  with  your  highest  ideals  and  with  God? 

Psalm  121;  Matthew  6. 

God's  promises:  Is.  32: 17-19;  Is.  40:  31 ;  II  Cor.  13: 
11;  Psalms  37:  37;  Phil.  4:  6-7;  John  16:  33;  Isaiah 
44: 8;  Psalms  27: 1-6. 


IX 
God*s  Laws  for  Health 


"3 


IX 

GOD'S  LAWS  FOR  HEALTH 

Know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  a  temple  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  which  is  in  you,  which  ye  have  from  God? 

I  Cor.  6: 19. 

He  sendeth  his  word  and  healeth  them 
And  delivereth  them  from  their  destructions. 

Psalms  107:20. 

Is  any  among  you  suffering?  Let  him  pray.  Is  any 
cheerful?  Let  him  sing  praise.  Is  any  among  you  sick? 
Let  him  call  for  the  elders  of  the  Church;  and  let  them 
pray  over  him,  anointing  him  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord;  and  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save  him  that  is  sick, 
and  the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up ;  and  if  he  have  committed 
sins,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him.  James  5: 13-15. 

I  will  restore  health  to  thee,  and  I  will  heal  thee  of  thy 
wounds,  saith  the  Lord.  Jer.  30 :  i  7. 

And  Jesus  went  about  in  all  Galilee,  teaching  in  their 
synagogues,  and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  Kingdom, 
and  healing  all  manner  of  disease  and  all  manner  of 
sickness  among  the  people. 

And  the  report  of  him  went  forth  into  all  Syria:  and 
they  brought  unto  him  all  that  were  sick,  holden  with 
divers  diseases  and  torments,  possessed  with  demons  and 
epileptic,  and  palsied :  and  he  healed  them. 

Matt.  4:23-24. 
115 


ii6  JSible  Stut)^ 


Bless  Jehovah,  O  my  soul ; 

And  all  that  is  within  me,  bless  his  holy  name. 

Bless  Jehovah,  0  my  soul. 

And  forget  not  all  his  benefits; 

Who  forgiveth  all  thine  iniquities; 

Who  healeth  all  thy  diseases. 

Psalms  103;  1-3. 

0  Jehovah,  my  God, 

1  cried  unto  thee  and  thou  hast  healed  me. 

Psalms  30: 2. 

A  tranquil  heart  is  the  life  of  the  fiesh; 
But  envy  is  the  rottenness  of  the  bones. 

Proverbs  14:30. 

But  unto  you  that  fear  my  name  shall  the  sun  of 
righteousness  arise  with  healing  in  its  wings. 

Mal.  4:2. 

A  cheerful  heart  is  a  good  medicine; 
But  a  broken  spirit  drieth  up  the  bones. 

Prov.  17:22. 

And  Peter  said  unto  him,  ^neas,  Jesus  Christ  healeth 
thee:  arise  and  make  thy  bed.   And  straightway  he  arose. 

The  Acts  9:34. 

And  behold  there  came  to  him  a  leper  and  worshipped 
him,  saying.  Lord,  if  thou  wilt  thou  canst  make  me 
clean.  And  he  stretched  forth  his  hand  and  touched 
him  saying,  I  will,  be  thou  made  clean.  And  straight- 
way his  leprosy  was  cleansed.  Matthew  8:  2-3. 

And  all  the  multitude  sought  to  touch  him,  for  power 
came  forth  from  him,  and  healed  them  all. 

Luke  6: 19. 


Hn  tbe  Morft  of  %itc  117 

Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that  believeth  on  me, 
the  works  that  I  do  he  shall  do  also;  and  greater  works 
than  these  shall  he  do ;  because  I  go  unto  the  Father. 

John  14: 12. 

It  is  the  spirit  that  giveth  life ;  the  flesh  profiteth  noth- 
ing; the  words  that  I  have  spoken  unto  you  are  spirit, 
and  are  life.  John  6: 63. 


WITNESS  OF  MEN 

Take  thought  for  thy  body  with  steadfast  fidelity. 
The  soul  must  see  through  these  eyes  alone,  and  if  they 
be  dim,  the  whole  world  is  clouded.  Goethe. 

Yet  however  good  our  health  may  be,  however  care- 
fully we  may  regulate  our  diet  or  our  habits,  the  body  is 
so  powerfully  affected  by  the  mind,  that,  as  every  skillful 
physician  knows,  it  is  often  the  mind  rather  than  the 
body  with  which  he  has  to  deal. 

Sir  John  Lubbock. 

Lycurgus  dedicated]a  little  statue  of  the  god  of  laughter 
in  each  of  the  Spartan  dining-halls. 

There  is  a  growing  belief  that  "God  never  made  His 
work  for  man  to  mend."  We  are  just  beginning  to 
discover  that  the  same  Principle  which  created  us, 
repairs,  restores,  renews,  heals  us;  that  the  remedies  for 
all  our  ills  are  inside  of  us,  in  divine  principle,  which  is 
the  truth  of  our  being.  We  are  learning  that  there  is  an 
immortal  principle  of  health  in  every  individual,  which, 
if  we  cotdd  utilize,  would  heal  all  our  wounds  and  furnish 
a  balm  for  all  the  hurts  of  mankind. 

Orison  Swett  Marden. 


ii8  Bible  StuOp 


"The  Bible  assures  us  that  'perfect  love  casteth  out 
fear,*  and  fear  is  one  of  the  most  potent  sources  of  dis- 
cord and  disease. " 

Mr.  Taylor  in  his  work  on  golf  tells  us  that  "to  main- 
tain anything  approaching  his  best  form  a  golfer  must  of 
necessity  live  a  clean,  wholesome,  and  sober  life.  ...  A 
man  must  live  plainly  but  well,  and  he  must  be  careful  of 
himself.  If  he  uses  up  his  reserve  force,  or  abuses  him- 
self in  any  way,  then  he  has  cast  his  opportunities  aside 
and  he  drops  immediately  out  of  the  game.  There  are 
no  half  measures.  You  must  do  one  of  two  things:  be 
careful  of  yourself  in  everything,  or  forsake  the  game 
altogether.  A  man  who  lives  a  careless  or  vicious  life 
can  never  succeed  in  golf  or  hope  to  keep  his  nerves  or 
stamina. " 

Those  wounds  heal  ill  that  men  do  give  themselves. 

Shakespeare. 


GOD'S  LAWS  FOR  HEALTH 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  a  large  part  of  the  active 
career  of  Jesus  while  on  earth  was  occupied  in  restoring 
people  to  health.  He  was  called  the  "  Great  Physician, " 
and  during  the  three  years  of  his  public  ministry,  healing 
might  truly  be  said  to  have  been  his  vocation.  He  re- 
peatedly associated  the  healing  of  the  body  with  the  cure 
of  the  soul,  and  with  the  forgiveness  of  sin.  It  would 
seem  that  his  cures  and  miraculous  healing  of  all  sorts 
of  diseases  were  for  the  purpose  of  turning  men's  atten- 
tion to  their  spiritual  condition,  to  the  health  of  the 
soul.  When  accused  of  usurping  the  power  of  God  and 
forgiving  sin,  he  replied  to  his  detractors: 


•ffn  tbe  IdlorF?  ot  Xite  119 

"Which  is  easier,  to  say,  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy,  Thy 
sins  are  forgiven,  or  to  say.  Arise  and  take  up  thy  bed  and 
walk?  But  that  ye  may  know  that  the  Son  of  Man  hath 
authority  on  earth  to  forgive  sins  (he  saith  to  the  sick 
of  the  palsy),  I  say  unto  thee,  Arise,  take  up  thy  bed,  and 
go  unto  thy  house." 

It  is  also  significant  in  this  connection  to  notice  that  as 
far  as  the  accounts  tell  us,  Jesus  himself  was  never  sick ; 
he  did  not  suffer  from  the  bodily  diseases  current  in  his 
time  and  still  prevalent  in  Oriental  countries.  We  have 
instances  of  his  being  weary,  as  for  example  when  he 
sat  and  rested  at  the  well  in  Samaria.  He  has  been 
pictured  by  medieval  art  as  a  somewhat  frail,  certainly 
not  a  robust  figure,  but  the  justification  for  such  portrayal 
is  doubtful.  It  is  indeed  questionable  whether  a  person 
could  be  other  than  decidedly  robust  and  a  possessor  of 
good  health  to  prove  himself  capable  of  undergoing 
such  steady  strain  of  travel  by  foot,  teaching,  preaching, 
and  heahng  almost  constantly,  suffering  the  drain  upon 
his  sympathies  of  a  multitude  of  sick  and  sorrow-stricken 
folk,  in  the  midst  of  perpetual  danger  from  hostile  en- 
emies, and  all  this  with  a  limited,  human  support  in  the 
way  of  friendships  and  material  aid. 

Furthermore,  we  have  no  account  of  Jesus  dwelling 
upon  ills  or  bodily  ailments.  The  historical  records 
give  no  hint  of  his  speaking  of  his  bodily  condition,  save 
with  possibly  one  or  two  exceptions  to  his  disciples. 
Was  it  because  his  body  was  in  such  harmonious 
relation  to  his  spirit  that,  as  it  is  sometimes  said  of 
healthy  children,  he  was  unaware  that  he  had  a  body, 
or  was  it  because  he  had  sufficient  force  of  character 
to  place  his  own  ailments  is  the  background  in  the  light 
of  his  uplifting  ministry  of  healing  to  those  about  him? 
The  attention  which  the  Bible  gives  to  sickness  and  its 
opposite,  health,  suggests  the  need  of  a  study  of  the  laws 


120  JSible  Stu&p 


which  God  has  laid  down  for  bodily  welfare.  In  the 
last  analysis,  good  health  is  the  deciding  factor  in  real 
success.  We  look  in  vain  for  detailed  or  explicit  rules 
in  the  New  Testament,  like  those  which  Mohammed,  for 
example,  laid  down  for  his  followers,  relative  to  bathings, 
the  abstinence  from  alcoholic  drinks,  and  certain  meats, 
and  domestic  relations.  Yet  we  can  gather  from  the 
sweep  of  Jesus'  matchless  teachings  a  few  plain  truths 
regarding  health. 

First:  Good  Health  a  Matter  of  Mental  Atti- 
tude TOWARD  Life. — We  must  conclude  that  the  Scrip- 
ture, as  found  in  the  Gospels,  places  primal  stress  upon 
the  kingdom  that  is  within  a  man,  his  inner  temper 
and  disposition  as  indicative  of  the  character  and 
tendency  of  his  life.  The  Gospel  goes  down  below 
the  body  to  the  healing  of  the  mind,  to  the  renewing 
of  the  spirit  as  being  the  fundamental  process.  The 
condition  of  mind  and  the  presence  of  belief  were  the 
constant  objects  of  Jesus'  first  solicitude.  We  find 
him  turning  away  from  certain  sections,  not  being  able 
to  do  many  mighty  works  there,  "because  of  their  un- 
belief." He  looked  with  keen  gaze  into  the  very 
heart  of  those  who  sought  his  healing  powers,  in- 
variably saying,  "Believest  thou  that  I  can  do  this?" 
"  All  things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth, "  as  though 
far  below  the  bodily  incompetency  was  the  necessity,  for 
the  sake  of  cure,  of  the  right  mental  attitude.  Get 
a  right  mind,  an  harmonious  outlook  upon  life  in 
general,  and  especially  toward  God,  get  right  thoughts 
within  your  own  heart,  where  the  real  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  starts,  and  the  outer  bodily  healing  will  follow. 
This  seems  to  be  the  drift  of  Jesus'  wonderful  cures. 

A  skillful  physician  tells  me  that  in  a  large  percentage 
of  cases  it  is  with  the  mind  rather  than  with  the 
body    he    has   to  deal,  and  that  very  frequently  the 


Hn  tbe  Morft  ot  Xite  121 

bodily  weakness  can  be  traced  to  wrong  currents  of 
thought  or  to  the  perversion  of  the  uses  of  the  members 
of  the  body  by  reason  of  perverted  and  morbid  ideas. 
As  Macbeth  has  said, 

Canst  thou  not  minister  to  a  mind  diseased, 
Pluck  from  the  memory  a  rooted  sorrow, 
Raze  out  the  written  troubles  of  the  brain 
And  with  some  sweet  oblivious  antidote 
Cleanse  the  stuffed  bosom  of  that  perilous  stuff 
Which  weighs  upon  the  heart? 

Certain  religious  sects  teach  that  if  one  can  get  a  right 
mental  attitude  toward  God  and  the  world  of  spirit,  he 
will  find  the  material  handicaps  and  evils  non-existent. 
The  soul  will  win  by  freeing  itself  from  bodily  make- 
believe,  by  getting  a  new  vantage  point,  by  becoming  a 
denizen  of  a  new  thought-world. 

Whatever  our  views  may  be  regarding  the  science  of 
this  great  principle  of  the  power  of  mental  and  spiritual 
forces  over  the  body,  it  is  fairly  well  agreed  that  good 
health  waits  upon  pure  thoughts,  the  settled  determina- 
tion to  disregard  as  far  as  possible  ideas  of  sickness, 
weakness,  and  failure,  and  to  think  health,  strength,  and 
success. 

The  harboring  of  a  grudge,  for  example,  may  mean 
physical  breakdown.  It  poisons  the  blood ;  it  warps  the 
mind;  it  narrows  the  sympathies;  it  injures  the  power  of 
concentration;  it  stops  us;  it  wastes  our  bodily  tissue,  and 
it  takes  time.  Gladstone  said,  "I  haven't  time  to  hate 
anybody."  The  Scriptural  pages  are  full  of  the  great 
injunction  to  love  rather  than  to  hate. 

Anger  and  temper  are  also  mental  states  directly 
inimical  to  health.  Across  the  Chapel  of  Baylor  Univer- 
sity, I  once  read  the  motto  placed  there  by  former  Presi- 


122  Bible  Stubs 


dent  Btirleson:  "Young  gentlemen,  have  a  resolute 
life  purpose.     Don't  get  mad,  and  don't  get  scared! " 

While  living  in  Cairo,  we  had  an  Armenian  servant 
whose  temper  was  uncontrollable.  She  flew  into  a  rage 
over  the  merest  trifle,  frequently  entering  into  physical 
combat  with  the  Arab  market-men  who  brought  the 
provisions  to  the  house.  After  one  of  these  fits  of  temper 
she  turned  a  peculiar  shade  of  yellow  which  continued 
for  several  days,  and  often  her  temper  made  her  so  ill 
that  she  was  obliged  to  go  to  bed.  Her  mental  distemper 
had  poisoned  her  entire  physical  nature. 

There  are  few  foes  of  the  body  more  fatal  than  the 
unbridled  passions  of  anger  and  hatred  which  carry  in 
their  train  so  many  other  evils,  called  by  the  Apostle, 
"the  works  of  the  flesh/' 

"Now  the  works  of  the  flesh  are  manifest,  which  are 
these:  fornication,  uncleanness,  lasciviousness,  idolatry, 
sorcery,  enmities,  strife,  jealousies,  wraths,  factions, 
divisions,  parties,  envyings,  drunkenness,  revellings,  and 
such  like;  of  which  I  forewarn  you,  even  as  I  did  forewarn 
you,  that  they  who  practice  such  things  shall  not  inherit 
the  Kingdom  of  God." 

These  represent  the  crimes,  not  simply  against  the 
body,  but  against  God's  laws  of  love,  and  visit  upon 
the  person  the  physical  recompenses  that  always  attend 
the  breaking  of  God's  laws. 

Second:  Good  Health  Dependent  upon  a  Right 
Attitude  toward  God. — The  man  who  gets  firmly 
rooted  in  his  consciousness  and  experience  that  God 
is  love,  that  He  is  not  a  God  who  delights  in  the 
chastisement  or  in  the  illness  and  unhappiness  of  His 
children,  secures  a  divine  support  towards  becoming 
and  keeping  well.  The  idea  that  God  sends  ill-health 
and  misfortune  comes  from  a  misconception  of  God's 
nature  and   a   wrong   attitude    toward   God   Himself. 


Hn  tbe  Mork  of  Xife  123 

Throughout  the  Scriptures  we  find  the  words,  healing, 
health,  and  holiness,  in  close  relationship.  It  is  my  belief 
that  God  means  that  His  creatures  shall  be  well.  If  we 
are  unwell  and  persist  in  aggravating  our  diseases,  we 
may  well  examine  the  causes,  to  see  if  they  do  not  go 
back  to  some  of  the  above-named  weaknesses  of  our  own 
nature. 

Furthermore,  we  should  look  to  this  same  loving  God 
in  perfect  confidence,  if  we  are  in  line  with  His  will,  to 
give  us  these  physical  blessings  of  health  and  the  ability 
for  happy  work,  just  as  we  look  to  Him  for  spiritual 
favors.  These  two  departments  of  the  physical  and 
spiritual  have  too  often  been  separated  in  our  prayers  and 
in  our  creeds.  The  man  is  one,  and  he  can  only  be  the 
whole  man  as  God  intended  him  when  his  body  is  a 
sound  and  fit  temple  for  the  dwelling  of  his  immortal 
spirit,  and  this  we  have  a  right  to  ask  of  the  God  who 
loves  us  and  who  wants  to  make  the  most  of  us  for  Him- 
self, for  ourselves,  and  for  the  world  in  which  He  has 
placed  us  with  a  mission. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  THOUGHT  AND  DISCUSSION 

What  would  you  say  was  God's  first  law  for  health? 

If  disease  were  a  disgrace  the  same  as  sin,  would  there 
be  so  much  disease? 

Are  good  health  and  wrong  motives  compatible? 

We  often  hear  of  people  who  grow  ill  with  no  bodily 
symptoms  of  disease,  simply  from  brooding  over  a  sin 
or  crime. 

What  is  the  relation  of  conscience  to  health? 


124  JSfble  Stut)^ 


Do  you  think  there  are  any  real  values  in  disease  and 
sufferings  of  the  body? 
^   If  so,  what  are  they? 

Do  you  think  that  God  sends  sickness? 

Deut.  8: 18-19. 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson  wrote  many  of  his  books 
under  the  shadow  of  a  great  disease.  In  his  letters  he 
tells  us  that  it  took  him  sometimes  two  weeks  to  write  a 
page  of  manuscript. 

What  was  the  secret  of  his  triumph  over  his  body? 

Does  intemperance  in  drink  or  impurity  differ  in  kind 
of  wrong  from  intemperance  in  eating,  in  speaking,  in 
thinking,  or  in  overwork? 

A  successful  man  once  told  me  that  he  owed  his 
splendid  health  to  the  observance  of  Sunday  as  a  day  of 
absolute  rest.  He  virtually  did  nothing  on  that  day 
that  he  did  on  other  days  of  the  week. 

Do  you  believe  in  a  real  rest  day?  Do  you  observe 
one? 

Is  not  the  experience  of  France,  for  example,  where 
one  rest  day  in  seven  has  been  prescribed  by  law  and 
not  religion,  significant  in  our  thought  concerning  the 
question? 

In  Japan  one  rarely  sees  an  unpleasant  face.  From 
earliest  childhood  the  Japanese  are  taught  to  smile  and 
to  refrain  from  showing  any  indication  of  pain  or  distress. 
It  is  a  proverbially  healthy  race.  What  is  the  physio- 
logical connection  between  this  habit  and  good  health? 

Dr.  Richardson  has  said,  "Anger,  hatred,  grief,  and 
fear  are  among  the  influences  most  destructive '  of 
vitality." 

Do  you  think  that  ill-health  is  the  result  of  individual 
sin?    How  about  inherited  disease?  '^ 


1Fn  tbc  Morft  ot  Xite  125 

Do  you  think  that  an  unconscious  attitude  of  mind,  for 
example,  a  growing  habit  of  querulousness,  criticism,  or 
envy,  will  bring  on  ill-health? 

Do  you  find  in  the  New  Testament  account  of  Jesus' 
healing  of  disease  a  warrant  for  believing  that  sickness 
can  be  cured  to-day  by  faith  in  God  without  the  use  of 
human  agencies  ? 

Do  you  consider  the  use  of  medical  science  and  the 
employment  of  physicians  inconsistent  with  the  belief 
in  God  to  cure  disease? 

Do  you  think  that  the  power  to  heal  was  given  to 
Christ  alone,  to  show  that  he  was  the  Son  of  God? 

Acts  3:1-16;  Acts  5:12-16;  Acts  20:9-12;  Luke 
9: 2;  Acts  28:  8-9;  Acts  9: 32-42;  Acts  14:  8-10. 

Read  the  cures  of  Christ  and  find  out  what  condi- 
tions he  imposed. 
Matt.    8:1-17;    John    11:1-44;    Luke    13:10-13; 
Luke  ii:  14-20;  John  4:46-54;  Matt.  15:29-31; 
Matt.  15 :  22-28 ;  Read  Psalm  37. 


X 

What  Makes  a  Friend  ? 


127 


X 

WHAT  MAKES  A  FRIEND? 

Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay- 
down  his  Hfe  for  his  friends.  John  15:13. 

A  friend  loveth  at  all  times.  Proverbs  17: 17. 

A  certain  man  was  going  down  from  Jerusalem  to 
Jericho;  and  he  fell  among  robbers  who  both  stripped 
him  and  beat  him,  and  departed  leaving  him  half  dead. 
And  by  chance,  a  certain  priest  was  going  down  that  way: 
and  when  he  saw  him  he  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 
And  in  like  manner  a  Levite  also  when  he  came  to  the 
place,  and  saw  him,  passed  by  on  the  other  side.  But  a 
certain  Samaritan,  as  he  journeyed,  came  where  he  was; 
and  when  he  saw  him,  he  was  moved  with  compassion, 
and  came  to  him  and  bound  up  his  wounds,  pouring  on 
them  oil  and  wine;  and  he  set  him  on  his  own  beast,  and 
brought  him  to  an  inn  and  took  care  of  him.  And  on 
the  morrow  he  took  out  two  shillings,  and  gave  them  to 
the  host  and  said.  Take  care  of  him;  and  whatsoever 
thou  spendest  more,  I,  when  I  come  back  again,  will 
repay  thee.  Which  of  these  three,  thinkest  thou,  proved 
neighbor  unto  him  that  fell  among  the  robbers?  And  he 
said.  He  that  showed  mercy  on  him.  And  Jesus  said 
unto  him,  Go  and  do  thou  likewise. 

Luke  10:30-37. 
9  129 


I30  Bible  Stttb^ 


There  is  a  friend  that  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother. 

Proverbs  18:24. 

As  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  also 
to  them  likewise.  Luke  6: 31.    . 

No  longer  do  I  call  you  servants;  .  .  .  but  I  have 
called  you  friends.  John  15: 15. 


Then  came  Peter  and  said  to  him,  Lord,  how  oft  shall 
my  brother  sin  against  me,  and  I  forgive  him?  until  seven 
times?  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  I  say  not  unto  thee,  until 
seven  times,  but  until  seventy  times  seven. 

Matthew  18:21-22. 


If,  therefore,  thou  art  offering  thy  gift  at  the  altar,  and 
there  rememberest  that  thy  brother  hath  aught  against 
thee,  leave  there  thy  gift  before  the  altar,  and  go  thy 
way ;  first  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother  and  then  come  and 
offer  thy  gift.  Matthew  5: 23-24. 

Beloved,  if  God  so  loved  us,  we  also  ought  to  love  one 
another.  I  John  4;  ii. 


Jehovah,  who  shall  sojourn  in  thy  tabernacle? 

Who  shall  dwell  in  thy  holy  hill? 

He  that  walketh  uprightly  and  worketh  righteousness, 

And  speaketh  truth  in  his  heart ; 

He  that  slandereth  not  with  his  tongue, 

Nor  doeth  evil  to  his  friend, 

Nor  taketh  up  a  reproach  against  his  neighbor. 

Psalm  15:  1-3. 


•ffn  tbe  morft  ot  Xite  131 

WITNESS  OF  MEN 

Mirabeau  said  that  self-help  and  friendship  are  the  two 
indispensable  traits  for  success. 

Let  me  live  in  a  house  by  the  side  of  the  road 

Where  the  race  of  men  go  by, 
Men  that  are  bad  and  men  that  are  good, 

As  bad  and  as  good  as  I. 
Let  me  not  sit  in  the  scomer*s  seat, 

Nor  hurl  the  cynic's  ban. 
But  let  me  live  in  a  house  by  the  side  of  the  road 

And  be  a  friend  to  man. 

Sam  Walter  Fobs. 

Charies  Kingsley  was  asked  the  reason  for  his  success- 
ful life;  he  answered  simply,  "  I  had  a  friend. " 

A  great  educator  has  said,  "The  youth  who  has  gone 
through  college  and  at  its  close  has  not  found  one  friend 
into  whose  face  he  can  look  and  say  honestly,  *  I  am  thy 
friend,'  and  then  can  hear  the  returning  answer,  'Yes, 
and  I  am  truly  thy  friend, ' — this  youth  has  lost  one  of 
the  richest  boons  of  his  college  career." 

"  They  seem  to  take  away  the  sun  from  the  world  who 
withdraw  friendship  from  life;  for  we  have  received 
nothing  better  from  the  immortal  gods,  nothing  more 
delightful." 

A  man  once  described  his  friend  thus:  "He  does  not 
really  teach  me  anything,  but  by  being  brought  into  his 
presence,  one  becomes  something. " 

Then  gently  scan  your  brother  man, 
Still  gentler,  sister  Woman, 


132  JBible  Stu^p 


Though  they  may  gang  a  kennin'  wrang, 
To  step  aside  is  human. 

Then  at  the  balance  let's  be  mute, 

We  never  can  adjust  it; 
What's  done  we  partly  may  compute, 

But  know  not  what's  resisted. 

Burns. 

No  one  is  useless  so  long  as  he  has  a  friend. 

Stevenson. 

"  Oh,  the  comfort,  the  inexpressible  comfort  of  feeling 
safe  with  a  person — having  neither  to  weigh  thought,  nor 
measure  words,  but  pouring  them  all  right  out  just  as 
they  are,  chaff  and  grain  together;  certain  that  a  faith- 
ful hand  will  take  and  sift  them,  keep  what  is  worth 
keeping,  and  with  the  breath  of  comfort  blow  the  rest 
away." 

A  friend  is  worth  all  hazards  we  can  nm. 
Poor  is  the  friendless  master  of  a  world; 
A  world  in  purchase  of  a  friend  is  gain. 

Dr.  Young. 

"  Love  is  not  love 
Which  alters  when  it  alteration  finds. 
Or  tends  with  the  remover  to  remove. 
Oh,  no.     It  is  an  ever  fix^d  mark 
That  looks  on  tempests  and  is  never  shaken.** 


Hn  tbe  Morft  of  %itc  133 

WHAT  MAKES  A  FRIEND  ? 

We  find  the  Master  at  the  joyous  gathering  places 
of  friends,  at  dinners  and  weddings  and  at  feast- 
days;  we  find  him  stealing  away  to  Bethany  to  exchange 
the  hot,  busy  air  of  the  multitude  for  the  rest  of  a  friendly 
home;  we  find  him  in  quiet  walks  and  talks  with  his 
intimate  disciples,  and  in  the  upper  room  of  the  Eastern 
houses,  opening  his  inmost  heart  as  a  man  can  do  only  to  a 
few  friends  of  his  confidence  and  love. 

In  Mark  3  and  the  14th  verse  we  read,  "and  he 
appointed  twelve  that  they  might  be  with  him.''  And 
these  were  with  him,  on  the  shore  of  the  little  lake,  in  the 
fields  of  grain,  on  the  dusty  roadways,  and  on  the  Mount 
of  Transfiguration.  He  seemed  especially  desirous  of 
having  near  to  him  at  the  hour  of  his  greatest  fight  for 
supremacy  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane  his  closest 
friends.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  he  singled  out  his 
three  loved  disciples,  men  in  the  inner  circle  of  his 
friendship,  Peter,  James,  and  John,  and  asked  them  to 
watch  with  him  for  a  single  hour.  It  was  not  because 
they  perfectly  understood  him — they  were  still  dull, 
stupid  learners,  frequently  marring  by  their  crude 
mistakes  more  than  they  could  repair  by  their  successes. 
They  were  not  yet  capable  of  arriving  at  his  great  secret; 
indeed  in  this  deepest  struggle  of  Christ,  there  was  some- 
thing too  divine  for  any  poor  fisher  folk  to  fathom;  yet 
he  wanted  them  with  him  because  they  were  his  friends, 
and  just  as  every  hun^an  reaches  out  for  a  sympathetic 
presence  in  its  Hfe's  tragedy,  so  Christ  longed  for  love 
and  thoughtfulness  to  break  the  terrific  solitude  of  his 
lonely  battle. 

There  is  perhaps  no  more  central  and  eternal  quality  of 
the  human  heart  than  this  dependence  upon  sympathetic 
friendship.     Men  can  live  and  be  happy  without  money, 


134  3Bible  Stut)^ 


without  fame,  and  without  learning — but  few  men  can 
live  the  happy,  worth-while  life  without  friendship. 
The  wife  of  a  very  wealthy  man  in  New  York  said  to 
me,  "I  have  everything  that  money  can  buy:  summer 
homes,  yachts,  automobiles,  and  expensive  jewelry.  But 
I  would  give  them  all  for  one  or  two  friends  who  really 
cared  for  me  just  for  my  own  sake."  A  young  man 
came  into  my  ofiSce  and  said,  "  I  wish  to  ask  the  greatest 
favor  I  ever  requested  of  any  man  in  my  life. "  I  began 
to  think  he  wanted  an  especially  good  position  or  perhaps 
wished  to  borrow  a  larger  sum  of  money  than  did  the 
usual  visitor  with  such  a  preface  to  his  request.  He 
hastened  to  show  me  my  mistake  by  saying,  "I  have 
been  in  this  city  for  eight  months,  and  during  all  that 
time,  I  have  not  seemed  to  find  a  single  person  who  cared 
whether  I  lived  or  died.  My  heart  is  breaking  for 
friendship.  I  have  come  to  ask  you  this  question: 
Will  you  be  my  friend?  '*  As  I  took  the  young  man  into 
the  inner  office  and  closed  the  door  against  the  world,  as 
he  told  me  of  the  deepest  secrets,  the  joys  and  sorrows  of 
his  life,  while  I  simply  listened  in  sympathetic  silence,  as 
he  went  away  with  a  new  light  in  his  face  simply  because 
he  had  spoken  out  his  real  life,  I  was  impressed  to  ask 
whether,  after  all,  Drummond  was  not  right,  when  he 
said,  "Greater  than  the  power  of  wealth  and  fame  is  the 
ability  of  a  man  to  keep  his  heart  open  for  love's  sake,  to 
become  a  kind  of  healing  confessional  into  which  men  may 
creep  to  tell  out  the  great  deep  things  of  the  spirit . ' '  The 
man  who  has  known  sorrow  and  has  had  a  friend  who,  quiet- 
ly coming  into  his  home,  has  placed  mutely  a  tender  hand 
upon  his  own,  knows  something  of  the  needsof  Jesus  and  the 
opportunity  which  his  disciples  lost  in  that  fateful  hour  in 
Gethsemane,  for  the  thing  that  counts  is  the  man  of  heart. 
George  Eliot's  prayer  will  never  be  out  of  place  as  long 
as  there  are  human  needs  and  great  hearts  to  meet  them. 


irn  tbe  TlClorft  of  Xite  135 

Oh,  may  I  join  the  choir  invisible 

Of  those  immortal  dead  who  live  again 

In  minds  made  better  by  their  presence. 

Feed  pure  love, 
Beget  the  smiles  that  have  no  cruelty, 
Be  the  sweet  presence  of  a  good  diffused, 
And  in  diffusion  ever  more  intense. 
So  shall  I  join  the  choir  invisible 
Whose  music  is  the  gladness  of  the  world. 

PUTTING  one's  self  IN  ANOTHER'S  PLACE 

A  few  years  ago  while  attending  a  conference  in 
Kentucky,  an  incident  was  related  to  me  concerning  the 
way  in  which  a  rather  simple  man  found  a  horse  which  had 
strayed  away  and  which  no  other  person  in  the  town  had 
been  able  to  trace.  Upon  being  asked  how  he  found  the 
horse,  the  man  replied,  "I  first  asked  where  the  horse 
was  last  seen;  I  went  to  the  spot  and  shutting  my  eyes 
began  to  say  to  myself, '  I'm  a  horse,  I'm  a  horse,'  thinking 
all  the  time,  *  Now  I'm  a  horse  and  can  go  anywhere  I 
please;  where  would  I  naturally  go?'  Pretty  soon  I 
thought  of  a  fine  piece  of  oats  about  a  mile  away.  *  I  will 
go  to  those  oats  and  eat  as  much  as  I  can,  and  then  I  will 
lie  down  and  enjoy  myself.'  I  went  to  the  field  of  oats 
and  there  was  the  horse. "  It  was  the  simplest  thing  that 
he  could  do.     He  put  himself  in  the  place  of  the  horse. 

Professor  Palmer  calls  this  sympathetic,  imaginative 
ability  when  found  in  a  teacher,  the  "  aptitude  for  vica- 
riousness. "  It  involves  not  only  the  discerning  of  what 
constitutes  another  man's  burden  but  also  assistance  in 
helping  him  bear  the  same. 

A  person  who  truly  puts  himself  in  another's  position 
will  not  speak  ill  of  his  neighbor,  for  he  will  realize  had 
he  been  in  the  same  place,  surrounded  by  like  environment 
from  his  youth,  subjected  to  similar  temptations,  he  vm- 


136  Bible  Stut)^ 


doubtedly  would  have  been  much  the  same  kind  of  man. 
"Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,'* 
means  that  we  must  transport  ourselves  by  thought  to 
the  point  of  view  of  our  friends.  This  act  usually 
precludes  harsh  judgments ;  it  often  prescribes  silence  or 
no  judging  on  our  part,  for  who  can  fully  comprehend 
another's  battle,  another's  circimistances?  Jesus  rightly 
confined  judgment  to  God  who  knows  men  through  and 
through.  He  knows  not  only  our  sin  but  also  our  inner 
recoil  from  that  sin.  He  not  only  knows  our  wayward- 
ness but  He  also  tmderstands  the  dark  hours  of  repentance 
and  the  sense  of  guilt  which  follows.  He  looks  not  only 
upon  the  outward  appearance  but  also  upon  the  heart. 
We  have  a  high-priest  who  can  be  touched  by  the  feeling 
of  our  infirmities,  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are, 
yet  without  sin. 

FRIENDSHIP   IS  HELPING   SOME   ONE 

Henry  Drtimmond  was  asked  by  a  yoimg  man  how 
he  should  get  to  really  care  for  other  men  as  Drummond 
seemed  to  do.  The  answer  received  was,  "Go  and  do 
something  for  your  friend!"  We  live  in  an  age  of  con- 
ventions, conferences,  organizations,  and  talks  about  ways 
and  means.  Hours,  days,  and  sometimes  weeks  are  spent 
in  note- takings  and  conferrings  upon  relationships  and  the 
laying  down  of  rules  and  regulations.  Christians  fre- 
quently are  tired  out  talking  about  the  things  they  ought 
to  be  doing,  when  few  of  us  have  begim  to  live  up  to  the 
things  we  already  know.  I  attended  a  convention  some 
years  ago  in  which  days  were  consumed  in  argument  over 
principles  of  polity  and  organization.  Just  as  the 
meeting  was  closing  a  man  in  the  gallery  said,  "Mr. 
Chairman,  I  have  heard  about  many  things  here  but  I 
have  heard  no  word  about  doing  anything  for  one's 


In  tbe  Morft  ot  Xitc  137 

friend,  and  the  love  of  God."  To  satisfy  the  man  a 
motion  was  made  to  add  a  clause  to  a  long  list  of  policies, 
stating  in  a  footnote  the  views  of  the  assembly  about 
friendship  and  the  love  of  God — the  love  of  God  and 
friendship  in  a  footnote!  Let  us  have  conferences,  to  be 
sure,  in  moderation,  but  let  them  not  crowd  out  our 
practice.  If  Jesus  had  spent  as  much  time  in  attending 
meetings  and  conventions  as  many  of  us  professional 
Christians  do  to-day,  it  wotdd  have  shortened  at  least 
by  one  third  his  working  days  on  earth.  The  advice  of 
an  athletic  leader  of  the  Christian  Association  at  Har- 
vard a  few  years  ago  was  not  inappropriate  regarding  the 
cultivation  and  the  actual  accomplishment  of  Christian 
friendship:  "  Do  a  lot  of  work  and  don't  talk  much 
about  it." 

What  do  we  really  give  to  our  friends? 

FRIENDSHIP  AN  UNDEVIATING  CONFIDENCE 

Jesus  believed  in  men  and  saved  them  by  his  tie  of 
confidence.  "Nobody  cares,"  are  the  words  of  many  a 
man's  doom.  Never  give  a  man  up.  Refuse  to  believe 
evil  of  people,  concentrate  upon  people's  virtues  rather 
than  their  faults. 

I  used  to  walk  along  the  streets  of  New  York  with 
Robert  R.  McBurney,  the  pioneer  secretary  of  the  New 
York  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  a  man  who  did 
more  perhaps  than  any  other  to  shape  the  policies  and 
the  power  of  that  work  on  the  American  continent,  as  did 
Sir  George  Williams,  the  founder  in  England.  I  have 
seen  him  look  upon  a  young  man  with  his  face  aglow, 
exclaiming,  "What  a  fine  fellow  that  is !"  and  I  thought  of 
Jesus  looking  upon  the  young  man  in  a  way  that  caused 
his  disciples  to  say,  "And  Jesus  loved  him."  This 
greatness,  this  largeness  of  heart  came  through  a  settled 


138  3Blble  StuO^ 


habit  of  McBurney's  life  not  to  distrust  but  to  believe 
in  men.  In  spite  of  the  many  times  he  was  deceived  by 
falseness,  the  most  frequent  words  I  can  remember 
were,  "There  must  be  something  good  in  that  man.  I 
shall  give  him  another  trial.'* 

This  determined  confidence  is  the  secret  of  friendship. 
If  God  did  not  follow  that  principle  where  would  we  be 
to-day  with  all  our  pretensions? — for  no  man  who  is  hon- 
est with  himself  can  free  himself  from  the  realization  ex- 
pressed by  Luther,  who  was  heard  to  cry,  "My  sins,  my 
sins!"  Remember  that  God  believes  in  us,  that  He  has 
not  cast  us  off,  that  He  said,  "  I  will  never  leave  nor  for- 
sake thee ;  fear  not,  I  am  with  thee."  These  are  the  notes 
of  permanent  encouragement  in  our  relation  to  His  di- 
vine friendship.  It  is  this  utter  belief  and  loyalty  which 
brings  us  friends  and  keeps  them  for  us.  What  if  every 
prisoner  coming  out  of  his  prison  had  had  a  friend  to  take 
him  by  the  hand  and  say,  "I  will  stand  by  you,  I  have  not 
lost  confidence  in  you.  You  have  it  in  your  power  to 
succeed,  I  am  your  steadfast  friend "  ?  The  power  that 
one  person  has  to  hearten  and  to  save  another  who  is  his 
friend  is  beyond  all  compute.  This  is  the  good  news  of 
Christianity.  This  is  the  basis  of  friendship,  love  be- 
tween man  and  man  and  between  man  and  God.  This 
confidence  and  belief — it  is  love  finding  its  goal  and  reason 
for  being,  in  helping,  in  hoping,  and  in  believing  all 
things. 


irn  tbe  Morft  of  %itc  139 

QUESTIONS  FOR  THOUGHT  AND  DISCUSSION 

An  eminent  statesman  has  defined  Christianity  as  a 
great  friendship.  How  does  your  friendship  with  God  re- 
semble your  friendship  with  your  best  earthly  friend? 
What  are  the  differences? 

Why  do  you  love  your  friend?  What  kind  of  un- 
selfishness does  real  friendship  include? 

Matthew  5:  43-48;  Luke  6: 36-38. 

Tennyson  once  said  about  his  friend  that  whether  or 
not  he  had  letters  from  him,  he  knew  that  "he  was 
always  there. "  Are  broken  friendships  real  friendships? 
Is  a  test  of  friendship  in  its  lasting  qualities? 

When  did  Jesus  seek  help  from  his  friends  and  find 
them  inadequate?     In  what  did  their  failure  lie? 

Mark  14:4. 

Peter  was  a  fickle  and  impetuous  friend  to  Jesus,  yet 
Jesus  loved  him  and  gave  him  a  place  in  the  inner  circle 
of  his  friendship.  What  does  this  teach  in  relation  to 
friendship? 

What  about  a  man  who  claims  to  love  God  and  yet 
holds  hatred  in  his  heart  for  some  person? 

I  John  4:20. 

Gladstone  said,  "  I  do  not  have  time  to  hate  anybody." 
Do  you  think  that  unfriendliness  is  a  greater  cause  of 
worriment  or  disadvantage  to  others  than  it  is  to  one's 
self? 

We  often  hear  persons  say  that  they  have  no  friends. 
Does  not  the  law  of  compensation  to  the  end  that  you  get 
what  you  give,  work  in  the  realm  of  friendship? 


I40       JStble  Stubp  in  tbe  XKDlorft  ot  Xife 

Do  you  think  it  right  to  criticize  or  judge  absent 
friends,  and  under  what  circumstances?  How  did  the 
love  of  Jesus  for  men  differ  from  earthly  friendship? 

Romans  5 : 7-10. 

Is  it  possible  in  modem  life  to  follow  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  in  Luke  6: 27-43? 

Read  the  Old  Testament  friendship  classic  concerning 
the  love  of  David  and  Jonathan. 

I  Samuel  18:1-5. 

Also  David's  lamentation  over  the  death  of  Saul  and 
Jonathan.  II  Samuel  i:  19-27. 

Note  the  way  in  which  the  New  Testament  rebukes 
speaking  ill  of  others. 
James    4:11-12;    Matt.    7:1-2;    Matt.    5:21-22; 
John  8:3-11;  Gal.  6: 1-3. 

One  of  the  few  cases  in  the  New  Testament  where 
Jesus  showed  deep  emotion  was  over  the  death  of  his 
friend  Lazarus.  Read  John  i  i  :  1-44. 


XI 

The  Man  Who  Works 


141 


XI 

THE   MAN   WHO   WOI^KS 

Work  not  for  the  food  which  perisheth,  but  for  the  food 
which  abideth  unto  eternal  life,  which  the  Son  of  man 
shall  give  unto  you:  for  him,  the  Father,  even  God,  hath 
sealed.  John  6: 27. 

Blessed  is  every  one  that  feareth  Jehovah, 
That  walketh  in  His  ways, 
For  thou  shalt  eat  the  labor  of  thy  hands; 
Happy  shalt  thou  be,  and  it  shall  be  well  with  thee. 

Psalms  128: 1-2. 

But  be  ye  doers  of  the  word,  and  not  hearers  only, 
deluding  your  own  selves.  For  if  any  one  is  a  hearer  of 
the  word  and  not  a  doer,  he  is  like  unto  a  man  beholding 
his  natural  face  in  a  mirror :  for  he  beholdeth  himself  and 
goeth  away,  and  straightway  forgetteth  what  manner  of 
man  he  was.  But  he  that  looketh  into  the  perfect  law, 
the  law  of  liberty,  and  continueth,  being  not  a  hearer 
that  forgetteth  but  a  doer  that  worketh,  this  man  shall 
be  blessed  in  his  doing.  James  i  :  22. 

Go  to  the  ant,  thou  sluggard. 
Consider  her  ways  and  be  wise. 

Proverbs  6:  6. 

Now  them  that  are  such  we  command  and  exhort  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  with  quietness  they  work,  and 
eat  their  own  bread.  I  Thess.  3:  12. 

143 


144  JBible  Stut)s 


Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his  business?  he  shall 
stand  before  kings.  Proverbs  22 :  29. 

Blessed  are  ye  that  sow  beside  all  waters,  that  send 
forth  the  feet  of  the  ox  and  the  ass.       Isaiah  32 :  20. 

And  that  ye  study  to  be  quiet,  and  to  do  your  own 
business,  and  to  work  with  your  hands,  even  as  we  charged 
you;  that  ye  may  walk  becomingly  toward  them  that 
are  without,  and  may  have  need  of  nothing. 

I  Thess.  4: 11-12. 

The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire.  Luke  10: 7. 

Wealth  gotten  by  vanity  shall  be  diminished;  but  he 
that  gathereth  by  labor  shall  have  increase. 

Proverbs  13:  ii. 

Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy 
might.  EccLEs.  9: 10. 

Commit  thy  works  unto  Jehovah, 
And  thy  purposes  shall  be  established. 

Proverbs  16:3. 

If  any  will  not  work,  neither  let  him  eat. 

II  Thess.  3: 10. 

For  God  will  bring  every  work  into  judgment,  with 
every  hidden  thing,  whether  it  be  good  or  whether  it  be 
evil.  EccL.  12: 14. 


IFu  tbe  MorU  of  Xife  145 

WITNESS  OF  MEN 

Work  in  every  hour,  paid  or  unpaid ;  see  only  that  thou 
work,  and  thou  canst  not  escape  the  reward;  whether 
thy  work  be  fine  or  coarse,  planting  corn  or  writing  epics, 
so  only  it  be  honest  work,  done  to  thine  own  approbation, 
it  shall  earn  a  reward  to  the  senses  as  well  as  to  the 
thought;  no  matter  how  often  defeated,  you  are  born  to 
victory.     Reward  of  a  thing  well  done,  is  to  have  done  it. 

Emerson. 

The  Romans  had  two  proverbs  about  work,  namely: 
"Labor  conquers  all  difficulties,"  and  "Labor  is  itself 
a  pleasure.  '* 

He  that  by  the  plow  would  thrive, 
Himself  must  either  hold  or  drive. 

Franklin. 

"Genius,**  said  ex-President  Timothy  Dwight  of 
Yale,  "is  the  power  of  making  efforts. *' 

I  can  plod,  I  can  persevere  in  any  definite  pursuit. 
To  this  I  owe  everjrthing.  William  Gary. 

What  we  think,  or  what  we  know,  or  what  we  believe, 
is  in  the  end  of  little  consequence.  The  only  thing  of 
consequence  is  what  we  do.  Ruskin. 

Genius  is  sublime  toil.  Victor  Hugo. 

Patience  and  perseverance  turn  mulberry  leaves  into 
satin.  Chinese  Proverb. 

When  Milton  lost  his  sight  he  wrote: 

"  Yet  I  argue  not 
Against  Heaven's  hand  or  will,  or  bate  a  jot 
Of  heart  or  hope;  but  still  bear  up  and  steer 
Right  onward.** 


146  3Bible  Stut)p 


Produce.  Produce.  Were  it  but  the  pitifullest 
infinitesimal  fraction  of  a  product,  produce  it,  in  God's 
name.  *Tis  the  utmost  thou  hast  in  thee:  out  with  it 
then.  Up.  Up.  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do, 
do  it  with  thy  whole  might.  Work  while  it  is  called 
To-day;  for  the  night  cometh  wherein  no  man  can  work. 

Thomas  Carlyle. 

Good  solid  work  is  as  necessary  for  the  peace  of  mind 
as  it  is  for  the  health  of  the  body;  in  fact  the  two  are 
inseparable.  Sir  John  Lubbock. 

**  Stand  up,  stand  up  now,  Tomlinson,  and  answer  loud 
and  high 

The  good  that  ye  did  for  the  sake  of  men  or  ever  ye 
came  to  die — 

The  good  that  ye  did  for  the  sake  of  men  in  little  earth 
so  lone." 

And  the  naked  soul  of  Tomlinson  grew  white  as  a  rain- 
washed  bone. 


"O  this  I  have  read  in  a  book,"  he  said  "and  that  was 

told  to  me. 
And  this  I  have  thought  that  another  man  thought  of  a 

Prince  in  Muscovy. " 
The  good  souls  flocked  like  homing  doves  and  bade  him 

clear  the  path, 
And  Peter  twirled  the  jangling  keys  in  weariness  and 

wrath. 
*'  Ye  have  read,  ye  have  heard,  ye  have  thought,'*  he  said, 

**  and  the  tale  is  yet  to  run: 
By  the  worth  of  the  body  that  once  ye  had,  give  answer — 
'    What  ha'  ye  done ? ' '  Kipling. 


Hn  tbe  Morft  ot  %itc  147 

THE   MAN  WHO  WORKS 

Christ  was  indefatigable  in  toil.  He  had  a  big  work  to 
do,  something  that  meant  incessant  industry,  that  gave 
him  no  time  for  foolish  fears.  He  compressed  into  the 
three  years  of  his  public  service  of  which  we  have  a 
written  account,  a  lifetime  of  service.  He  took  particular 
pains  to  insist  upon  the  necessity  of  labor.  The  man  in 
the  parable  of  the  talents  who  failed  to  make  use  of  his 
gift  was  cast  into  outer  darkness,  the  hell  of  unemployed 
faculties.  The  man  who  said  he  would  not  go  to  the 
vineyard,  and  afterwards  repented  and  went,  was  com- 
mended rather  than  the  man  who  promised  but  did  not  go. 

The  Master  said,  "Why  do  ye  say,  Lord,  Lord,  and 
do  not  the  things  which  I  say?"  Unproductiveness 
received  his  severest  censure ;  he  could  endure  anything 
better  than  idle  excuses  covering  indolence  or  idleness. 
The  fig  tree  was  blasted  because  it  could  show  no  figs; 
the  Pharisees  received  his  intense  censure  because  they 
professed  and  did  not  make  good  by  their  works.  Christ 
maintained  that  such  fruitless  men  and  things,  whenever 
and  wherever  found,  were  to  be  destroyed,  burnt  up, 
swept  utterly  away,  in  order  to  free  the  ground  for  fruit- 
bearers,  producers,  creators.  Such  men,  indeed,  paved 
the  way  for  their  demolition  through  their  inertness  and 
the  neglect  of  the  exercise  of  their  abilities,  bringing 
upon  themselves  atrophy.  Jesus  gave  work  to  men  for 
the  cure  of  their  temptations  and  troubles.  "  Watch  and 
pray,"  he  said,  "lest  ye  enter  into  temptation." 

He  also  set  to  work,  as  the  surest  salvation,  those  whom 
he  cured  in  body  and  in  spirit,  knowing  as  he  taught  that 
the  devils  rush  into  an  empty  house.  He  enjoined  work 
because  of  thebrevity  of  life,  and  he  gave  God,  the  Father, 
as  an  example  in  his  creation  and  care  for  the  world. 

The  entire  Gospel  of  Christianity  is  toward  activity 
and  positive  exertion  in  "good  works,"  as  over  against 


148  Bible  Stut)^ 


professions  and  negative  laws  and  observances.  The 
New  Testament  tells  of  a  Christ  of  the  carpenter  shop, 
who  sent  his  disciples  forth  to  teach  and  to  heal,  saying 
a  servant  is  not  greater  than  his  Lord ;  of  a  Christ  who  was 
wounded  for  the  transgressions  of  humanity  and  bruised 
in  his  combat  with  the  enemies  of  men,  who  always  had 
to  fight  his  way,  who  counted  his  Hfe  not  dear  to  him- 
self, who  was  straitened  until  his  task  could  be  accom- 
plished, who  deUberately  gave  up  his  life  and  found  it 
more  abundantly,  as  the  grain  of  wheat  which  literally 
dies  in  the  earth  that  it  may  not  abide  alone — this  is  the 
Christ  who  has  brought  hope  and  incentive,  with  the 
example  of  toil  unsevered  from  tranquillity,  to  the  labor- 
ing children  of  men. 

I  have  just  witnessed  a  most  dissatisfying  representa- 
tion of  the  Passion  of  Christ  in  a  play  by  peasants  in  the 
Austrian  Tyrol.  It  was  a  "  Passion  Play,"  but  without 
passion  or  any  powerful  impulse.  The  actors  seemed  to 
have  missed  the  very  essence  of  the  Master's  character- 
istic, his  forcefulness  as  a  combatant  against  evil,  a  man 
with  a  mission  for  service.  The  active  principle  of  effort, 
the  contagious  enthusiasm  of  a  crusader  or  a  pioneer,  was 
entirely  absent.  I  saw  only  a  weak,  effeminate,  pale,  and 
spiritless  being  representing  the  Man  of  Nazareth,  a  humi- 
liated buffer  between  those  whose  chief  business  was  to 
ridicule  and  smite  him  as  he  moved  about  abstractedly. 
They  showed  us  a  passionless  and  missionless  being 
without  purpose  or  personality,  unsuccessful  and  defeated. 
There  was  no  fire  of  action  about  his  presence,  no  iron  in 
his  blood.  There  were  no  moments  of  real  victorious 
manhood,  no  sense  of  achievement  such  as  we  invariably 
connect  with  the  Son  of  Man.  This  pitiable  victim  of 
circumstance,  which  we  saw,  was  the  medieval  conception 
of  the  "  Man  of  Sorrows."  It  was  no  wonder  that  there  was 
little  or  no  impulse  to  applause  or  to  service,  stirred  in  the 


•ffn  tbe  Morft  ot  Xlte  149 

hearts  of  the  great  audience — only  a  few  women's  tears 
for  an  unfortunate  creature  of  environment  were  the 
result  of  the  picture  presented  to  us  by  the  imagination 
of  the  Austrian  peasants. 

Such  was  not  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels,  whose  dom- 
inating career  filled  the  minds  of  the  early  Christians, 
before  whose  conquering  figure  rulers  shrank  as  before  a 
power  they  could  not  understand,  and  from  whose  path 
of  deeds  his  enemies  and  his  obstacles  were  swept  as 
thistledown  before  the  wind.  This  militant  Christ 
commanded  his  followers,  "Go  work  to-day,"  and  led 
the  march,  through  days  and  nights  of  unceasing  and 
unwearied  preaching  and  teaching,  traveling  by  foot, 
healing  the  sick,  opening  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  hurling 
his  thunderbolts  of  woe  against  all  the  doddering,  stag- 
nant usurpers  of  a  merely  professional  religion.  He  gave 
us  the  portrait  of  one  who  toils  in  his  prayers. 

Here  was  no  colorless,  yielding,  sad-eyed  nature,  making 
little  or  no  appeal  to  strong  men;  such  portraits  of  Christ 
have  always  been  a  travesty  upon  real  Christianity. 
Those  who  have  caught  the  spirit  of  the  New  Testament 
have  found  it  a  driving  power  to  action,  they  have  kept 
their  nerves  strong  as  did  Paul  with  "labors  more  abun- 
dant." It  was  a  regnant,  purposeful  being  whom  the 
disciples  followed  out  to  service  and  to  martyrdom;  he 
inspired,  he  brought  hope,  he  made  the  dead  alive,  with 
an  energy  that  no  passive  or  inactive  being  could  possibly 
reveal.     He  was  the  Christ  of  work. 

This  real  Jesus  of  social  and  human  sympathies,  the 
Christ  of  the  brotherhood  of  man,  is  the  master  of  present- 
day  religion;  he  is  taking  firmer  hold  than  ever  upon  the 
life  of  our  times,  in  so  far  as  men  have  proved  themselves 
capable  of  sweeping  past  antiquated  middle-aged  con- 
ceptions of  him  and  of  the  Church  theological,  going 
directly  to  the  Gospels  for  their  ideas  of  religion.     Men 


150  JSlble  Stu^p 


are  finding  in  the  outspoken  attitude  towards  sin  of 
every  form,  a  brace  for  their  drooping  and  half-hearted 
liberalism;  those  who  would  wage  holy  war  against 
modem  vice  or  impurity,  or  against  public  or  private 
wrong,  find  their  texts  in  the  parables  and  the  words  of 
Jesus.  The  prophet  who  dared  to  face  the  leaders  of  the 
Church  of  his  day  with  the  virile  pronouncement  of 
"adulterers,"  because  they  looked  upon  a  woman  to  lust 
after  her,  even  though  they  had  not  carried  their  desires 
to  fulfillment,  is  making  men  appear  foolish  enough 
when  they  turn  out  of  their  churches  or  away  from  their 
friendly  aid  the  poor  humans  who  sin  publicly,  while  their 
accusers,  if  honest  in  their  hearts,  go  out  self -condemned. 
It  is  this  triumphant,  this  hopeful,  this  active  and 
serviceable  note  of  the  captain  of  the  world's  religious 
salvation  which  we  need  in  our  social  and  civic  wars 
against  the  drink  that  is  spoiling  the  nation's  youth, 
against  sham  and  pretence  both  within  and  without 
the  confines  of  the  Church,  against  saintly  pietism  that 
harks  back  to  the  sixteenth  century  for  its  models  and 
is  too  lazy  to  think  out  Christ's  spirit  and  method  for 
the  present  age,  against  the  traffic  in  white  slaves,  against 
the  stealing  by  men  in  high  and  low  life ;  the  age  cries  out 
for  the  religion  of  deeds  and  daring  and  determination. 
The  times  call  for  construction,  not  insurgency  in  religion. 
Men  of  to-day  are  ready  to  march  forth  in  a  war  whose 
watchword  is  action  and  only  in  such  an  one.  There  are 
indications  that,  not  only  in  America  but  in  all  parts  of 
the  world,  leaders  are  being  raised  up  to  sing  this  refrain, 
this  marseillaise  of  labor : 

"The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war, 
A  kingly  crown  to  gain. 
His  blood-red  banner  streams  afar, 
Who  follows  in  his  train? 


fn  tbe  Morft  ot  Xite  151 

Who  best  can  drink  his  cup  of  woe, 

Triumphant  over  pain, 
Who  patient  bears  his  cross  below, 

He  follows  in  his  train." 

I  can  conceive  of  no  real  Christian  who  does  not  work 
more  than  he  prays.  Christ  taught  us  prayer,  but  his 
life  was  spent  in  serving,  not  praying,  unless  we  may  say, 
and  justly,  that  his  whole  life  was  a  prayer  in  its  minister- 
ing rather  than  being  ministered  unto.  By  his  example 
of  laborious  days  we  are  led  on  to  our  own  personal  vic- 
tories. 

The  Christian  religion  has  dignified  forever  work  and 
honest  toil.  Nothing  great  ever  happens  without  it. 
Work  always  wins,  in  the  end  over  mere  genius,  mere  talk ; 
it  wins  over  intellect,  beauty,  nature,  over  fine  theories, 
political,  religious,  theological,  yes,  over  inert  goodness. 
God  is  with  the  worker  wherever  he  lives  and  wherever 
he  works,  providing  he  toils  sincerely  at  a  genuine  and 
worthy  task.  You  can  never  overcome  a  real  worker; 
he  is  solidly  and  confidently  founded  upon  what  he  has 
done  and  is  doing,  like  a  house  that  builds  itself  upon  a 
rock  rather  than  upon  shifting  sand.  The  future  as  well 
as  the  present  belongs  to  him.  "  One  day  it  shall  delight 
you  also  to  remember  labor  done,"  says  Bos  well  of 
Johnson.  The  worker  knows  that  he  can  leave  his  cause, 
to  use  Gladstone's  phrase,  to  the  certain  "arbitrament  of 
time,"  and  he  is  serene.  It  is  only  the  idle,  hesitant, 
wavering  man  whose  soul  is  filled  with  qualms  and  fears. 

Two  friends  of  mine  in  my  college  class  have  interested 
me  greatly  since  their  graduation.  One  was  a  brilliant 
prize-winner,  the  other  a  dull  plodder.  Seven  years 
after  graduation  I  found  the  prize-winner  out  in  the  Far 
West  in  a  small  office  as  a  second-rate  barrister,  while  the 
man  who  stood  almost  at  the  foot  of  his  class,  who  was 


152  Bible  Stu^p 


always  ridiculed  because  he  could  not  make  a  speech 
in  his  fraternity  debating  exercises,  and  who  was  obliged 
to  miss  many  of  the  social  events  of  his  college  career 
because  he  was  running  a  boarding-house  to  pay  his 
student  expenses,  was  one  of  the  busiest  and  most 
successful  physicians  in  a  large  Eastern  city,  with  a 
considerable  income,  and  was  sending  two  of  his  brothers 
through  college.  One  day  I  asked  him, ' '  Why  ?' '  "I  just 
work, "  he  answered.  That  was  the  secret  and  the  real 
secret.  I  learned  that  he  had  hardly  taken  a  week  off  in 
five  years,  but  regardless  of  his  feelings  or  circtmistances, 
had  devoted  himself  to  his  profession.  In  contrasting 
these  two  men,  the  thing  that  is  impressive  is  not  that  a 
dull  man  should  necessarily  succeed  more  surely  than  a 
bright  man,  but  that  the  bright  man  with  this  unquench- 
able power  for  work  belonging  to  his  fellow-student, 
might  have  gone  far  in  advance  of  his  handicapped  friend. 

Any  man  can  overcome  his  sorrows,  his  defeats,  his 
defects  of  education,  even  his  weakness  of  disposition 
and  temperament,  if  he  is  willing  to  work  hard  enough  at 
some  worth-while  task.  After  a  firm  faith  in  God  there 
is  no  secret  of  success  but  work,  work,  work.  Kipling 
has  fitly  painted  Heaven  in  his  "L'envoi,"  as  a  place  where 
men  "shall  work  for  an  age  at  a  sitting,  and  never  be 
tired  at  all."  The  late  President  William  R.  Harper 
of  Chicago  University,  when  he  died,  said  that  his 
greatest  wish  was  that  Heaven  would  give  him  some 
larger  work  to  do.  The  Rector  of  the  University  of 
Zurich,  from  whom  I  asked  the  secret  of  the  splendid 
progress  so  evident  in  all  kinds  of  institutions  in  Switzer- 
land, replied,  "We  like  to  work." 

Give  us  men  who  like  to  work,  men  who  can  persevere 
at  working,  men  who  toil  upwards  in  the  night  while 
their  companions  sleep,  men  who  do  not  expect  hard 
things  to  be  easy,  who  realize  that  victory  is  worth 


IFn  tbe  Morft  of  Xlte  153 

nothing  without  struggle,  men  who  are  willing  to  pay  for 
the  prizes  of  life  by  serving,  and  we  shall  have  institu- 
tions and  nations  increasingly  great  and  worthy,  guided 
and  ruled  over  by  the  uncrowned  kings  of  toil. 

"Strike  hands,  my  brother  man, 
'Tis  yours  with  voice  and  act  and  pen, 
*Tis  yours  to  paint  the  morning  red. 
That  ushers  in  the  grander  day. 
So  may  each  unjust  cord  be  broke, 
Each  toiler  find  his  just  reward. 
And  life  sound  forth  a  truer  chord. " 


QUESTIONS   FOR  THOUGHT  AND  DISCUSSION 

Which  do  you  think  more  deeply  influenced  the  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus,  his  teaching  or  his  work? 

Which  made  the  deeper  impression  upon  the  people  of 
his  time? 

It  would  seem  that  social  Christianity  is  gaining  over 
theological  Christianity  to-day  in  America. 

Is  this  to  be  regretted?     Is  there  a  danger  here? 

Which  naturally  comes  first,  a  man's  creed  or  a  man's 
work? 

Which  would  you  prefer  to  have,  genius  or  the  ability 
to  work  hard  in  the  face  of  great  discouragement? 

Thomas  Huxley,  who  became  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
and  successful  lecturers  of  his  time,  after  his  first  Royal 
Institution  lecture  received  an  anonymous  letter  recom- 
mending him  never  to  try  it  again,  for  whatever  else  he 
might  be  fitted  for,  it  was  not  for  giving  lectures. 

What  are  the  greater  works  meant  by  Christ  when  he 
said,  "and  greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do"  ? 

John  14: 12. 


154       ^tl>le  Stubp  in  tbe  Ximorft  ot  Xite 

Theodore  Roosevelt  once  said  to  his  classmates  at  Har- 
vard, "There  are  two  kinds  of  men  in  the  world  who 
succeed,  the  man  who  succeeds  because  of  his  unique 
•power  of  intellect,  and  the  man  who  succeeds  because  he 
sees  the  thing  that  ought  to  be  done,  that  every  one 
admits  ought  to  be  done,  and  while  others  are  talking 
about  it,  goes  and  does  it." 

Is  it  true  that  much  good  work  is  imperilled  by  over- 
consideration? 

Is  there  any  real  recreation  for  a  man  who  does  not 
work? 

Is  amusement  the  same  thing  as  recreation? 

Do  you  think  that  change  of  work  is  sufficient  recrea- 
tion for  the  average  man? 

Can  a  man  be  truly  a  Christian  if  he  keeps  his  Chris- 
tianity and  religion  to  himself? 

John  15: 2;  Matt.  5: 13-16. 

In  many  cases  the  laboring  man  feels  that  the  Church 
is  not  his  friend.  What  means  would  you  suggest  for 
bringing  the  working  man  and  the  Church  into  closer 
co-operation? 

If  our  cares  and  worries  are  simply  mental,  the  result 
of  turning  the  mind  inward  too  constantly,  is  not  work, 
which  places  the  thoughts  upon  things  outside,  the 
remedy  for  our  ills? 

God's  Promises:  Isaiah  33:  15-17;  Proverbs  16:  3113: 
11;  8:  18-21;  Psalms  128:  1-4;  24:  3-5;  Hebrews 
6:7-8;  Psalms  127:1-2;  Isaiah  55.  Read  Psalm 
34- 


XII 
Do  We  Really  Believe  God? 


155 


XII 

DO  WE  REALLY  BELIEVE  GOD? 

Abraham  believed  God  and  it  was  reckoned  unto  him 
for  righteousness.  Gal.  3 :  6. 

Now  faith  is  assurance  of  things  hoped  for,  a  con- 
viction of  things  not  seen.  Heb.  ii :  i. 

Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee,  go  in  peace. 

Luke  7:50. 

And  that  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  in 
faith,  the  faith  which  is  in  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me 
and  gave  himself  up  for  me.  Gal.  2 :  20. 

Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that  heareth  my  word 
and  believeth  him  that  sent  me  hath  eternal  life  and 
Cometh  not  into  judgment,  but  has  passed  out  of  death 
into  life.  John  5:24. 

Jesus  said  unto  her,  Said  I  not  u^to  thee,  that  if 
thou  believedst,  thou  shouldest  see  the  glory  of  God? 

John  i  i  :  40. 

Then  came  the  disciples  to  Jesus  apart  and  said, 
Why  could  not  we  cast  it  out?  And  he  saith  unto 
them,  Because  of  your  little  faith;  for  verily  I  say  unto 
you,  If  ye  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  ye  shall 
say  unto  this  mountain,  Remove  hence  to  yonder  place; 
and  it  shall  remove;  and  nothing  shall  be  impossible  unto 
you.  Matt.  17: 19-20. 

157 


158  JSible  Stut)^ 


By  faith  we  understand  that  the  worlds  have  been 
framed  by  the  word  of  God,  so  that  what  is  seen  hath  not 
been  made  out  of  things  which  appear  .  .  .  and  without 
faith  it  is  impossible  to  be  well  pleasing  unto  him;  for 
he  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  he  is,  and  that 
he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  seek  after  him. 

Hebrews  11:3,  6. 

And  he  said  unto  him,  Arise  and  go  thy  way;  thy 
faith  hath^made  thee  whole.  Luke  17: 19. 

And  he  said  unto  her,  Daughter,  thy  faith  hath 
made  thee  whole;  go  in  peace.  Luke  8:  48. 

And  this  is  the  victory  that  hath  overcome  the  world, 
even  our  faith.  And  who  is  he  that  overcome th  the 
world,  but  he  that  belie veth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God? 

I  John  5: 4-5. 

Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  belie  veth  hath 
eternal  life.  John  6 :  47. 

For  which  cause  I  suffer  also  these  things ;  yet  I  am  not 
ashamed;  for  I  know  him  whom  I  have  believed,  and  I 
am  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to  guard  that  which  I  have 
committed  unto  him  against  that  day.  Hold  the  pattern 
of  sound  words  which  thou  hast  heard  from  me,  in  faith 
and  love  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.       II  Tim.  i  :  12-13. 

And  Jesus  answering  saith  unto  them.  Have  faith  in 
God.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Whosoever  shall  say  unto 
this  mountain,  Be  thou  taken  up  and  cast  into  the  sea; 
and  shall  not  doubt  in  his  heart,  but  shall  believe  that 
what  He  saith  cometh  to  pass,  he  shall  have  it. 

Mark  11:22-23. 


In  tbe  Morft  ot  Xite  159 

And  by  faith  in  his  name  hath  his  name  made  this 
man  strong  whom  ye  behold  and  know:  yea,  the  faith 
which  is  through  him  hath  given  him  this  perfect  sound- 
ness in  the  presence  of  you  all.  Acts  3:  i6. 


WITNESS  OF  MEN 

Attempt  great  things  for  God — Expect  great  things  of 
God.  William  Gary. 

We  die  when  our  faith  dies — our  power  is  not  a  power 
of  genius  but  an  almightiness  of  belief. 

Joseph  Parker. 

A  mushroom  spawn  can  lift  a  paving  stone  because  the 
substantial  life  in  it  is  a  part  of  the  one  life  pulsing  through 
all.  "Have  the  faith  of  God,"  said  Jesus.  It  is  as 
though  he  had  said,  Call  into  operation  the  life  of  God 
within  you,  turn  it  towards  God;  for  believing  is  an  atti- 
tude, a  mirror  placed  at  the  proper  angle. 

Dean  Wilberforce. 

I  know  not  what  the  future  hath  of  marvel  or  surprise, 
Assured  alone  that  life  and  death  his  mercy  underlies; 

I  know  not  where  His  islands  lift  their  fronded  palms 

in  air, 
I  only  know  I  cannot  drift  beyond  His  love  and  care. 

Whittier. 

True  faith  is  no  mere  intellectual  exercise.  The  faith 
which  is  enjoined  on  us  is  a  living  faith,  and  faith  without 
works  is  dead.     Selden  compares  faith   and  works  to 


i6o  Bible  Stubs 


light  and  heat:  "Though  in  my  intellect  I  may  divide 
them,  just  as  in  the  candle  I  know  there  is  both  light  and 
heat;  yet  put  out  the  candle  and  both  are  gone. " 

Sir  John  Lubbock. 

Thou  askest  why  Christ,  so  lenient  to  the  deed, 
So  sternly  claims  the  faith  which  founds  the  creed; 
Because,  reposed  in  faith,  the  soul  has  calm; 
The  hope  a  haven,  and  the  wound  a  balm; 
Because  the  light,  dim  seen  in  Reason's  dream, 
On  all  alike,  through  faith  alone,  could  stream. 
God  willed  support  to  weakness,  Joy  to  grief, 
And  so  descended  from  His  throne.  Belief. 

Sir  E.  B.  Lytton. 

Strong  Son  of  God,  immortal  Love, 

Whom  we,  that  have  not  seen  thy  face, 
By  faith,  and  faith  alone,  embrace. 

Believing  where  we  cannot  prove. 

Tennyson. 

But  we  are  all  too  little  inclined  to  faith;  we  are  all,  in 
our  serious  moments,  too  much  inclined  to  forget  that  all 
are  sinners,  and  fall  justly  by  their  faults,  and  therefore 
that  we  have  no  more  to  do  with  that  than  with  the 
thunder-cloud ;  only  to  trust,  and  do  our  best,  and  wear  as 
smiling  a  face  as  may  be  for  others  and  ourselves. 

R.  L.  Stevenson. 

Oh,  thou  of  little  faith,  lift  up  thine  eyes. 
Are  the  ten  thousand  glorious  stars  of  night 
But  a  vain  dream,  because  thy  feeble  sight 

May  not  behold  them  in  the  noonday  skies? 

Mary  Howitt. 


In  tbe  Moth  ot  %itc  i6i 

DO  WE  REALLY  BELIEVE  GOD? 

A  certain  man  outside  the  Christian  Church  said  to  a 
prominent  missionary  worker  in  China  who  was  con- 
stantly worried  and  troubled  about  trifles,  "You  are  not  a 
Christian.  You  ask  me  to  believe  in  your  God  and  you 
really  do  not  believe  in  Him  yourself.  If  He  is  the  God 
who  gives  peace,  and  protects  His  people  from  care  and 
anxiety,  why  don't  you  trust  Him?" 

FAITH  IN  GOD  ELIMINATES  FEAR 

Fitting  questions  for  every  person  regardless  of  his 
profession  would  be  in  all  sincerity  to  ask:  "Do  I  really 
believe  God?'*  "Is  there  anything  in  my  life  that 
would  prove  to  one  who  did  not  believe  in  God  that  a 
fundamental  principle  in  Christianity  is  faith?'* 

The  primal  cause  of  American  breakdown  has  been 
attributed  by  a  famous  physician  to  "those  absurd  feelings 
of  hurry  and  care,  to  that  breathlessness  and  tension,  that 
anxiety  of  future  and  solicitude  of  results,  revealing  the 
lack  of  inner  harmony  and  ease,"  without  which  good 
work  cannot  be  accomplished.  The  man  who  gives  us 
the  impression  of  the  old  Scriptural  motto,  "  In  quietness 
and  confidence  shall  be  your  strength,"  is  none  too 
common  in  these  days. 

One  returns  from  the  Orient  where  so  much  of  life  lies 
in  the  "to-morrow"  and  where  the  passive  virtues  of 
patience  and  ability-to-wait  are  cultivated  far  more 
generally  than  in  the  West,  to  feel,  in  the  midst  of  our 
straining  waste  of  energy,  frequently  over  things  that 
are  non-essential,  a  sense  of  misfortune.  It  is  useless  to 
say  to  a  man,  "  Do  not  worry, "  for  if  that  is  all  you  can 
suggest  to  him,  he  will  reply,  "I  must  worry,  I  cannot 
help  but  worry."     You  must   sink  his  thought  into 


i62  JStble  Stut)^ 


deeper  resources,  he  must  discover  a  fundamental  reason 
for  quietude  and  trust  in  a  power  greater  than  himself, 
greater  than  his  own  splendid  accomplishments,  greater 
than  his  friends,  greater  than  his  money,  since  there  come 
times  in  the  life  of  every  man  when  one  and  all  of  these 
are  inadequate. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  a  man  should  wait  for 
failure  and  physical  breakdown  in  order  that  he  may 
learn  to  believe  in  a  God  who  is  capable  of  banishing 
care  and  the  sense  of  strain  from  his  work  and  from  his 
life.  It  is  not  necessary  that  a  man  stop  work,  for  work 
is  helpful,  it  is  the  veritable  salvation  of  most  men;  only 
worry  and  fear  are  the  sure  forerunners  of  disease.  One 
meets  in  travel  a  goodly  percentage  of  people  who  are 
trying  to  travel  out  of  the  reach  of  their  illnesses  or  their 
fears,  and  who  are  often  most  in  fear  of  the  events  and 
calamities  that  never  occur. 

"  Half  of  the  ills  we  hoard  within  our  hearts 
Are  ills  because  we  hoard  them. " 

Have  you  ever  stopped  to  think  that  a  Christian  has 
the  inalienable  right  to  an  inheritance  of  peace?  It  is  his 
birthright  at  the  hand  of  Christ,  who  gave  it  as  his  last 
bequest.  "My  peace  I  give  unto  you;  not  as  the  world 
giveth  give  I  unto  you;  let  not  your  heart  be  troubled, 
neither  let  it  be  afraid. "  It  is  the  Christian's  privilege  to 
cast  all  of  his  cares  and  anxieties  upon  God,  who  really 
cares  for  him.  The  faithless  man  should  read  for  a 
month,  every  morning,  the  1 1  th  chapter  of  Hebrews  or  the 
14th  chapter  of  John.  He  should  stop  to  consider  that 
virtually  every  miracle  that  Jesus  wrought  was  seemingly 
for  the  purpose  of  instilling  in  the  minds  of  the  people  a 
steady  confidence,  a  faith  in  God  the  Father  to  heal, 
not  only  from  bodily  but  also  from  spiritual  ills. 


In  tbe  Morft  ot  Xite  163 

The  great  events  in  the  history  of  the  Church  have 
been  the  events  of  faith.  Luther  while  climbing  up 
the  stairs  of  the  Wartburg  discovered  the  sentence  of 
Paul  which  became  the  battle-cry  of  the  Reformation, 
"The  just  shall  live  by  faith."  That  phrase  with  its 
far-reaching  implications  was  a  sustaining  source  of 
strength  to  the  great  German  reformer  throughout  his 
career.  There  is  no  other  reason  but  faith  to  ascribe  to 
the  courage  which  nerved  the  hand  that  nailed  those 
memorable  theses  to  the  door,  when  Luther  cried,  "So 
help  me  God,  I  cannot  do  otherwise."  The  history  of 
great  statesmanship  as  well  as  the  story  of  martyrdom  is 
the  history  of  the  trials  and  the  conquests  of  men  who 
have  believed  in  God.  The  saiHng  of  the  Mayflower  was 
the  adventure  of  Christians  who  had  seen  their  own 
vision  of  their  own  God  and  could  not  forget.  If  you' 
believe  you  can,  providing  you  believe  strongly  enough 
not  only  in  your  own  powers  but  in  the  sustaining  divine 
sufficiency,  you  can.  When  you  read  God's  promises  do 
you  reaHze  that  He  truly  means  them?  That  He  means 
you  when  He  utters  such  words  as,  "  I  will  never  leave  you 
nor  forsake  you, "  that  the  following  is  a  direct  challenge 
to  your  faith:  "Be  strong  and  of  good  courage;  be  not 
affrighted,  neither  be  thou  dismayed:  for  Jehovah  thy 
God  is  with  thee  whithersoever  thou  goest"  ? 

Do  we  really  believe  God?  Are  we  actually  accepting 
the  heritage,  the  divine  possibilities  of  our  lives,  do  we 
claim  enough  for  ourselves?  The  faith  in  God  which 
eliminates  fearfulness  and  terror  from  life,  replacing 
them  with  unfaltering  and  unhesitant  progress,  is  the 
indispensable  accompaniment  to  all  success  that  is 
worthy  of  the  name.  This  implicit  belief  that  somehow, 
somewhere,  clouds  will  break,  that  God  and  not  Satan  is 
running  the  world,  and  that  all  things  do  actually  work 
together  for  good  to  those  who  believe  in  Him,  this  casting 


1 64  Bible  Stu^^ 


all  your  care  upon  one  who  is  capable  and  willing  and 
waiting  to  assist  us,  this  is  faith,  and  there  is  no  fear 
while  you  have  faith. 

FAITH  IN  GOD  BRINGS  THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE 

But  faith  is  more  than  the  elimination  of  fear.  It  has 
a  positive  side  and  an  active  test.  Belief  in  God  is  not 
complete  in  the  minds  of  men  who  wall  themselves  as  in  a 
citadel,  calmly  and  supinely  trusting  Providence  to  save 
them  from  their  enemies;  it  is  an  element  driving  men 
forth  from  their  fortresses  to  combat  with  their  obstacles 
and  their  enemies,  saving  not  simply  their  citadel  but 
the  surrounding  country  as  well. 

BeHef  in  God  calls  out  our  best,  our  greatest  action. 
"Show  me  your  faith  without  your  works  and  I  will 
show  you  my  faith  by  my  works."  When  in  that 
striking  and  picturesque  event  narrated  in  Isaiah,  the 
conqueror  from  Edom  overcame  Israel's  foe,  it  was  for 
a  purpose.  It  occurred  that  the  shadow  of  her  enemy 
should  no  longer  haunt  the  chosen  nation,  it  occurred  in 
order  that  Judah  might  be  free  to  go  forth  and  work  out 
her  destiny  and  become  what  she  never  could  have 
realized  without  the  assurance  of  God's  care  and  strength 
behind  her.  Religious  belief  is  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  religious  life  formidable.     Its  final  test  is  that  it  works. 

It  is  for  this  daring  to  enter  upon  difficult  things  in  the 
world's  work  that  the  vision  of  God  through  faith  comes 
to  men.  Such  belief  makes  men  "eccentric"  as  Henry 
Drummond  used  to  say.  They  begin  working  from  a 
new  center  with  a  new  vision.  People  of  his  time  called 
Jesus  beside  himself,  the  boys  pointed  to  their  heads  when 
Columbus  walked  along  the  streets,  Paul  was  called  mad, 
Newton  and  Morse,  and  even  in  later  days  our  pioneer 
aviators,  have  received  uncompUmentary  titles  for  their 


In  tbc  TRUorft  ot  %itc  165 

rashness  and  their  daring.  What  have  men  ever  accom- 
plished when  they  have  not  been  borne  out  to  their  goal 
upon  a  great  wave  of  personal  vision  and  conviction 
regarding  their  work  and  their  power  to  accomplish  it? 

When  Livingstone  went  down  into  Africa,  the  osten- 
sible object  which  his  countrymen  saw  was  a  wild, 
adventurous  plan  of  exploration.  They  did  not  see  the 
hand  invisible,  and,  perhaps,  Livingstone  himself  rather 
felt  than  saw  it,  the  hand  which  not  only  guided  but 
supported  the  messenger  of  civilization  and  progress. 
It  was  said  that  although  the  black  men  could  not  un- 
derstand the  language  of  this  white  Englishman,  they 
nevertheless  did  understand  his  life  and  their  dark  faces 
changed  when  he  moved  in  and  out  amongst  them. 
They  felt  his  faith.     It  magnetized  conditions. 

What  have  we  ever  really  dared  that  we  could  not  do 
alone?  Have  we  attempted  great  things  and  have  we 
expected  great  results?  Have  we  had  faith  enough  in 
the  final  outcome  to  plod  along  patiently  at  routine 
tasks  ?  In  order  to  have  a  great  result  in  any  department 
of  life,  one  must  have  a  great  task,  and  in  order  to  accom- 
plish great  tasks  in  the  larger  sense,  one  must  possess 
the  assurance  that  there  is  a  God,  and  that  He  has  made 
to  individuals  definite  promises,  promises  that  He  will 
surely  fulfill. 

You  may  lose  your  friends,  your  money,  your  health, 
but  if  you  keep  your  faith  in  Almighty  God,  your  Helper 
and  Deliverer,  if  you  never  say  die  but  plod  persistently, 
ever  invincibly,  on — on — on — then  you  are  unconquer- 
able, the  world  will  make  way  for  you,  you  will  reveal  to 
modem  life  another  man  who  believes  God. 

"If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us?" 


i66  Bible  Stub^ 


QUESTIONS  FOR  THOUGHT  AND  DISCUSSION 

According  to  the  Bible  how  can  a  man  obtain  faith  in 
God?  Psalms  34 :  8 ;  I  John  5 : 4-5 ;  Rom.  1:17. 

Is  faith  consistent  with  scientific  or  natural  law? 
What  kind  of  things  has  a  man  the  right  to  believe  will  be 
given  him  in  answer  to  prayers  of  faith? 

What  is  the  difference  between  Christian  faith  and 
fatalism? 

Is  God  limited  by  numbers  in  working  a  great  work? 
I  Sam.  14;  Judges  7:7;  Joshua  23: 10. 

Some  people  say  faith  is  "just  trust."  Do  you  think 
that  God  wishes  His  children  to  believe  in  violation  of 
their  reason? 

Is  belief  in  Christ's  miracles  necessary  for  being  a 
Christian? 

Think  what  Paul  meant  in  his  teaching. 

Eph.2:8-9;ICor.  16: 13;  Gal.  2: 20. 

Do  you  think  a  man  is  saved  by  believing  or  by 
working?     Or  by  both?    Which  comes  first? 

Romans  4 : 3-5 ;  Eph.  3:17;  Gal.  5:6;  James  2 :  22-26. 

What  is  your  conception  of  "being  saved"? 

Christian  faith  is  necessary  for  salvation.  Just  what 
is  Christian  faith  ?  Acceptance  of  the  Athanasian  Creed 
or  saying  we  believe  in  the  Apostolic  succession  ? 

What  was  Christ's  teaching?  John  i  i  :  25-26. 


JSible  Stubi?  in  tbe  Morft  ot  Xite       167 

Jesus*  words  of  assurance  to  his  disciples  were  authori- 
tative. Has  a  Christian  any  right  to  become  timid  and 
fearful? 

Marks:  36;  Mark  9:  23;  John  6: 35;  I  John  5:  i-r6; 
Psalms  42:5. 


Did  not  Christ  say  over  and  over  again,  "Fear  not,*' 
"Care  not,"  "Be  not  anxious,"  "O,  thou  of  little 
faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt?"  "Have  faith  in 
God,"  "Upon  this  rock  will  I  build  my  Church  and  the 
gates  of  Hades  shall  not  prevail  against  it,"  "For  it  is 
your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  Kingdom"? 

In  all  his  healing  of  the  sick  Jesus  made  the  question 
uppermost,  "Believest  thou?"  What  do  you  think  was 
his  underlying  purpose  in  his  healing  of  the  sick? 

God's  Promises:  Isaiah  41:10;  Acts  10:43;  Mark 
16:  16-19;  John  12:  36,  46;  Hebrews  11:  6;  I  Peter 
1:3-9;  I  Tim.  4:10;  Matt.  21:21-22;  Mark 
9:23;  Dan.  6:  23;  John  14:10-15;  Rom.  15:13; 
Jer.  17  :  7-9.     Read  Ephesians  6;  Psalm  107. 


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